Shikon Champion
by see03
Summary: Kagome and Sesshoumaru are off on their pokemon adventure, but find themselves the targets of pokecriminal Naraku, and a strange group calling themselves Team Miasma. On their quest to be Shikon Champions, will they also become pokemon heroes?
1. Chapter 1

"Kagome. Kagome, wake up, sweetie."

"Nngh, five more minutes Mama," she groaned, rolling over in bed, cuddling her favourite plush closer to her chest.

"In five more minutes you'll be ten minutes late for your first day as a pokémon trainer," her mother's voice teased. She held back a laugh when Kagome's body stiffened under the covers.

Rolling her eyes, Mama Higurashi took a step back, counting backwards in her head for the explosion that she knew was about to come.

_Three…two…one…_

"…WHAT?"

_Right on time_. Smiling indulgently, Mama turned away, her daughter's pre-packed knapsack in hand. "Breakfast is ready when you are."

"Why didn't Grandpa wake me up when he left?" Kagome shrieked, hurriedly changing. "Even Souta is awake already!" she pointed out, glancing at her brother's made bed. "Did no one think to wake me up on time?"

"Really, Kagome," Mama reprimanded as the girl practically flew down the stairs. "You're fifteen years old now. Old enough to go on your pokémon adventure, but not old enough to set your alarm clock?"

Properly chastised, Kagome walked up to where her mom was standing in front of the kitchen sink and hugged her around the waist. "Sorry, it's just…I'm nervous. I know it's only me and Sesshoumaru getting pokémon this year, so I'll definitely get a pokémon, but…what if I'm not good?"

She hid her face in the back of Mama's shirt.

Sighing softly, Mama turned around, holding her daughter close. "If you have doubts, Kagome, you do not have to go. Grandpa will understand."

"But I don't want to disappoint him," Kagome murmured. "Since Papa died, Grandpa has only talked about when it will be mine and Souta's turns to travel. Papa never became Shikon Champion, and he always felt like he'd let Grandpa down—"

"Now you listen to me," Mama said firmly, kneeling down to come eye-to-eye with Kagome. "Your grandpa's dream to become a Pokémon Champion does not have to be your dream, and he understands that. Your father didn't want to be a trainer, but Grandpa convinced him to go anyway. When he couldn't succeed, he blamed himself, but your grandpa knows now that he shouldn't have made Papa go. Your grandpa loves you more than anything else, and he wouldn't want you to go if it wasn't what you wanted, so don't feel like you'll disappoint him if you do not do well."

"I really want to go," Kagome confessed. "I want to travel the world and catch pokémon, and I _do_ want to be the next Shikon Champion."

"Then you should go out there and do your best," Mama advised. "That is all Grandpa expects of you."

Kagome grinned, hugging her mother tightly. "Thanks Mama."

"You're welcome, dear. Now grab your pack and hurry up! I'm sure the Taisho boy was there on time, but Grandpa said he'd wait for you."

The eldest Higurashi child gasped, racing towards the door. "Why didn't you say so?" Kagome asked eagerly, throwing on her pack and slipping into her boots.

"Bye, Mama!" Kagome exclaimed, waving. "I'll call you when I've reached the first check point!"

"Be sure that you do!" Mama Higurashi shouted back, waving as her daughter disappeared down the road. Smiling sadly, Mama heaved a soft sigh and went back inside to do some housework and wait patiently for her daughter's call.

* * *

><p>"Oh man, oh man, oh man!" Kagome shouted, startling some of her neighbours as she raced down the street. "Pokémon adventure, here I come!"<p>

"Kagome!" a high voice called out. "Kagome, wait for me!"

Slowing to a light jog, Kagome glanced behind her, surprised to see Sesshoumaru's brother poke his head out from their backyard, his little mouth twisted into a petulant pout.

"Take me with you," he begged, struggling to climb over the fence. "Sesshou said he wouldn't take me with him, but you'll take me, won't you Kagome?"

"I dunno, Inuyasha," she contemplated, walking up to the fence nonchalantly. "If Sesshoumaru said no, then it really isn't my place to contradict him."

The little boy's lip quivered even as his eyebrows drew together angrily. "I want to go on a pokémon journey too!" he shouted.

"Okay, okay, jeez!" Kagome griped, reaching up to grab the boy under his arms and pull him the rest of the way over the fence. "How about you come with me to see Grandpa?"

Inuyasha's eyes lit up at the prospect of seeing Professor Higurashi. "Will he let me have a pokémon too?"

Kagome shook her head. "You know you aren't old enough, Inuyasha. But you can stay at the lab and play with the pokémon there."

The kid frowned, scuffing his shoe on the ground. "But I wanna go with Sesshou on his journey…"

Sighing, Kagome crouched down, cupping her knees for balance. "How about we get Sesshoumaru to agree to call you every day, hmm? Then he can tell you all about what we're seeing and doing."

Sniffling slightly, Inuyasha's shoulder slumped resignedly. "Okay."

Taking his hand in hers, Kagome stood up and began walking towards the lab, Inuyasha in tow. "I know you feel like you're being left behind, but Souta is still here, and you guys can play video games all day long."

His eyes lit up at the mention of his best friend, and Inuyasha's steps became more cheerful. "Yeah, we'll play all day together, and some day, we'll go on our pokémon journey together!"

"That's the spirit!" Kagome laughed. "C'mon, I'll race you to the lab!"

Inuyasha grinned, and, letting go of her hand, took off down the road, voice bright as he shouted back, "Last one there is a Slowpoke!"

* * *

><p>"Really, Professor," Sesshoumaru intoned, leaning impatiently against the wall. "Can we not start without Kagome? She's always late, and I want to begin my journey before the sun sets."<p>

"Have patience, Sesshoumaru," Grandpa Higurashi chided, tapping busily at his computer. "You and Kagome are to journey together, so it makes sense that we wait so that you might choose your pokémon together."

"I still don't see why we have to travel together," he muttered, frowning.

"It is tradition, Sesshoumaru," Grandpa reminded him, smiling. "Besides, even with the checkpoints, the roads can be dangerous. Having someone out there with you can be a comfort on cold nights."

Sesshoumaru scoffed, looking away. "I can take care of myself."

"I did not say you could not," the older man agreed. "Only that loneliness is not uncommon among trainers who choose to travel alone."

Sesshoumaru didn't answer, only turned away to lean on his side, his back facing the professor.

"You did not have a problem with this a week ago," Grandpa observed thoughtfully, standing up. His lips pulled up into a knowing smile when Sesshoumaru's shoulders stiffened up. "Did something happen between you and my granddaughter?"

The teenager spun around, his cheeks flushed and his eyes wide. "No, of course not! Why should you think anything happened? I just want to prove myself to my father, and I can't do that with some nattering girl hanging around me!"

Grandpa Higurashi frowned. "I know you do not mean that, Sesshoumaru. Do not let Kagome hear you speak that way, or you may just get your wish."

"Professor," one of the lab aides interrupted, "Kagome is here. She's also brought Inuyasha with her."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised Inuyasha managed to weasel his way into coming here with Kagome," the professor chuckled dryly. "Let them both in. I'm sure Inuyasha just wants to say goodbye to his big brother," he surmised, glancing to the uncomfortable youth beside him.

"I told him not to come," Sesshoumaru apologized. "I'm sorry if he bothers you."

"Do not be absurd," Grandpa said dismissively. "Inuyasha is a good boy, and he loves you dearly. It will be hard for him to see you go."

Sesshoumaru scowled, glaring at his shoes.

"Grandpa!" Kagome shouted as she and Inuyasha burst into the room. "Sorry I'm late!"

The old man chuckled, holding his granddaughter close when she flung herself into his arms. "Don't be silly, you foolish child. Did Mama have to wake you up?"

Kagome blushed, embarrassed. "Yes."

"And it seems you couldn't help bringing someone with you," he observed, crouching down to be level with Inuyasha, who was grinning, unrepentant.

"Are you ready to go on your adventure, young man?" Grandpa Higurashi asked seriously.

"Well, I am, but…I'm gonna wait a bit longer, so Souta and I can go together!" Inuyasha answered cheerfully, gaps showing in his teeth when he smiled.

"A wise and thoughtful choice," the professor approved, standing back up with a groan. "Well then, Kagome, now that you are here, who would like to choose their pokémon first?"

Kagome and Sesshoumaru looked at each other. As time passed Sesshoumaru's cheeks acquired a pink tinge and he looked away. "Kagome may choose first," he offered gruffly.

"Really?" Kagome gasped, hands clasping together. "Thanks Sesshoumaru!"

Giving Sesshoumaru an approving look, Grandpa gestured Kagome forward. "All right, Kagome, follow me please."

Together they walked past Sesshoumaru, who was now busy dealing with his brother as the boy attempted to climb up his leg, and entered another room. This was the professor's personal lab.

It was decorated as eccentrically as her grandfather occasionally proved himself to be, with mats of clashing colours and posters on the walls. Framed photographs also had their place on the wall, and without looking Kagome knew there was a picture of every trainer who had chosen their starter at her grandpa's lab.

Her eyes were drawn to the picture of her father, from so many years ago. He looked happy in the picture, excited to be getting a pokémon. Beside him was the familiar face of Sesshoumaru's father, Touga Taisho, and that of a woman she didn't recognize. Touga, unlike her father, had completed his pokémon journey, and was a member of the Elite Four. If she and Sesshoumaru wished to gain the title of Shikon Champion, they would have to defeat him in battle.

_I wonder how Sesshoumaru feels about battling his dad_, Kagome mused, her eyes tracing Touga's face. He and his son looked much alike – the same white hair, golden eyes, and slightly pointed ears. She didn't know much about Mr. Taisho, because he was away so often working with the League, but from talking to Sesshoumaru's stepmom, Izayoi, Mr. Taisho was a good man.

A slight hiss drew her attention away from the pictures, and she felt her heart beat speed up as a pedestal slowly rose from the floor. There were three concave impressions spaced equally apart on top, and as the platform clicked into place the bowl-shaped grooves lit up one at a time with red, blue, and green.

"Are you ready to choose your first pokémon, Kagome?"

"Yes," she answered, swallowing her nerves and stepping forward. "I've thought about this for a long time, and the pokémon I choose is…Charmander."

"Then select the pokéball, and begin your journey," Professor Higurashi recited, smiling fondly as his granddaughter slowly approached the dais and reached into the glowing red impression.

Her fingers curled around the pokéball resting within, and pulling it out, simply stared at the little orb, her fingers tracing its shape and markings.

"If you are ready, Kagome, release Charmander and assign him a name."

"Oh, right!" Pressing lightly on the locking mechanism that held the ball closed, Kagome let it fall to the floor. The pokéball opened with a click, and in a burst of red light her pokémon appeared, its eyes blinking slowly as if emerging from sleep.

"Wow," she breathed, grinning widely as Charmander blinked up at her. Instantly the pokémon's face lit up.

"Char char!" He raced over to her, and Kagome crouched down, taking him easily into her embrace.

"You're so warm!" she enthused, nuzzling Charmander gently.

"Kagome, if you would like to name him, now is the time," Grandpa reminded her. "He will only respond to whatever you call him now."

Flopping backwards onto her butt, Kagome looked down at her Charmander, who was nestled close to her chest. "I spent so long trying to decide which pokémon I wanted, that I didn't even think about names."

"Well, do not dwell on it too long. Sesshoumaru must still choose his pokémon."

As if to remind her to make haste, Charmander suddenly grew warmer, and Kagome sighed blissfully at the heat, which reminded her of the hot baths she always loved to take. Giggling suddenly, Kagome drew back to hold Charmander up in front of her. "I know what your name shall be! I'm going to call you Onsen, because you're like a hot bath when I hold you in my arms!"

"Char!"

Grandpa chuckled dryly. "Now that you have named your Charmander, please return him to his pokéball and we will return to Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha."

"Okay." Gently putting Onsen down, Kagome stood up, holding the open pokéball in her hand. "I'll let you out again soon, Onsen!" Clicking the locking mechanism again, her Charmander returned to the pokéball in a streak of red light before it clicked closed and shrunk. She placed the miniature pokéball in the first spot on her custom-made belt, before following her grandfather back out.

* * *

><p>"I wonder which pokémon Sesshou will choose," Inuyasha mumbled tiredly, leaning against Kagome's side as he rested.<p>

"Well, I chose Charmander, so that only leaves Squirtle and Bulbasaur," Kagome reminded him.

"When it's my turn, I'm gonna choose Charmander too," he sighed, eyes falling closed.

"And what will you name him?" she asked, smiling down at the dozing child.

"I'll name…I'll name him…Hotman, or…Fireman," Inuyasha answered between yawns.

Kagome giggled, petting Inuyasha's pale hair. "Fine names for a Charmander," she murmured to him.

Leaning back against the wall, Kagome stared up at the ceiling contemplatively. If she had to guess, she would say that Sesshoumaru would pick Squirtle. Because on the surface, he's calm and serene, like a still lake, but beneath the surface, Kagome knows there is a strong undertow of emotion that can sweep you away if you aren't careful.

Not to mention she knew that Squirtle would give him the type advantage when they faced the first gym leader in Gorintou.

The heavy shifting of doors alerted her to the return of Sesshoumaru and her grandfather. Lightly shaking Inuyasha to wake him, Kagome stood up, smiling as the pair came into view.

"Sesshoumaru!" she shouted, leaping forward to embrace him. "Which one did you pick, and what did you name them?"

The teenager froze in her embrace, his eyes widening to stare at Professor Higurashi helplessly. The professor lifted a hand to muffle his laughter, looking away.

"I…I chose Squirtle, and named her Mizu," he stuttered.

"Oh, I just _knew_ you'd choose Squirtle!" Kagome bragged, stepping back to gush. "Well? Show her to me! I'll show you my Charmander in return!"

"Now, now, children," Grandpa interrupted, stepping between them. "First let me give you your pokédexes, and then we'll go outside for a picture. There'll be no roughhousing in the lab."

"Aww, okay," Kagome acquiesced, slumping slightly. She perked up when her pokédex was placed in her hand, and immediately flipped it open. The screen lit up to show a picture and description of her, making her smile.

"Grandpa, you didn't have to set it up for me, I could've done it myself," she said, hugging him. "But thanks."

"It was not a problem," he told her, lightly patting her back. "Now run along outside. You'll want to let the pokédex scan your Charmander, so it registers as your starter."

"Okay! Thanks again, Grandpa," she said gratefully. "C'mon, Inuyasha, I'll show you my Charmander!"

"Yay!"

Looking over her shoulder, Kagome smiled at Sesshoumaru, who was inputting the last of his data into his pokédex. "You coming, Sesshoumaru?"

"Yes," he answered shortly. Nodding curtly to Professor Higurashi, he murmured a stiff thanks before following Kagome and his brother out of the lab.

Once they were outside Kagome took out her pokéball, and it grew to full size in her grasp as she pressed the release. "Hey, since we're showing them too each other, let's battle after our picture!" she suggested.

Sesshoumaru sniffed disdainfully. "That would be a waste of our time."

Kagome smirked. "Scared you're gonna lose?"

Her childhood friend glared. "No."

"Then show me what you've got, Sesshoumaru!"

He scowled. "Fine."

At the same time they released their pokémon, and Inuyasha couldn't contain his excited yip when Onsen and Mizu stretched slightly before racing over to their respective trainers.

At her hip Kagome's pokédex buzzed, and she took it out, squealing when Charmander appeared in the screen.

"_Bzzt. Charmander, the mountain lizard pokémon. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame wavers when Charmander is enjoying itself. If the pokémon becomes enraged, the flame burns fiercely."_

"Wow," Inuyasha breathed, standing on tiptoe to watch the screen. He yelped when the pokédex buzzed again.

"_Bzzt. Squirtle, the lake turtle pokémon. Squirtle's shell is not merely used for protection. The shell's rounded shape and the groves on its surface help minimize resistance in water, enabling this pokémon to swim at high speeds."_

"Your pokémon are amazing!" Inuyasha exclaimed, hopping up and down.

Kagome smiled proudly. "Yep!" She looked up to see Sesshoumaru putting his pokédex away, and so pocketed hers as well. Just then one of her grandfather's aides came outside, a camera in his hand and smile on his face.

"Are you ready for the picture?" he asked.

"Yes!" Kagome cheered. She raced to the side of the building, Charmander toddling after her. "C'mon Sesshoumaru, its custom!" she cheerfully encouraged the recalcitrant youth.

Sesshoumaru heaved a sigh but made his way over to stand beside her, Mizu clasped in his arms. "I do not see why this became a tradition," he muttered as Kagome bent down to pick up Onsen.

"Grandpa likes to do it, and I think it's great," she told him. "For trainers, the picture is proof of the start of their journey, and captures their excitement and enthusiasm. For Grandpa, it shows him that others are as passionate about pokémon as he is, and serves as a reminder of who has come through his lab to start their journey."

"Plus, it's a reminder that all great trainers have to start somewhere," the aide added helpfully, checking the view through the camera. "Even your father, a member of the Elite Four, got his starter here."

Sesshoumaru immediately scowled. "I know."

"Uhh, right," the aide agreed nervously. "Of course you do. Now, if you two could squish together a little more…perfect! Now smile!"

Kagome's face immediately lit with a grin, and after a few minutes of waiting for Sesshoumaru to do the same, the aide took the picture. "I'll just go back inside now," he murmured, and made his escape.

Immediately Kagome bounced away from the wall, lowering Onsen back to the ground.

"You ready to battle, Sesshoumaru?" she shouted as he stepped forward, repeating Kagome's actions with Mizu.

"Always," he replied firmly. "Mizu, use tackle!"

Without delay Mizu leapt forward, wrestling Onsen to the ground and pinning him.

"Char!" Onsen shouted, straining beneath the Squirtle.

"Oh, no! Onsen, use scratch!" Kagome shouted.

Letting go of Mizu, Onsen scratched at her shell, his claws leaving shallow marks but otherwise not doing much damage to the hard exterior.

Sesshoumaru snorted. "Face it, Kagome. I chose the stronger pokémon."

"No way! Don't give up Onsen!"

Encouraged by her voice, Onsen squeezed his legs up under Squirtle and kicked her off him.

"Squirt!" Mizu shouted in surprise as she flew through the air. Landing on her back, Mizu struggled vainly to right herself as Onsen stood up.

"Onsen, use scratch again!"

Running forwards, the lizard pokémon leapt on top of Squirtle, using his claws on the softer underbelly of her shell.

Mizu cried out as his claws gouged deeply into her and wiggled mightily, trying to dislodge him.

Concern flashed across Sesshoumaru's face, and stepping forward he took out his pokéball, calling Mizu back to it. She complied with a grateful sigh, disappearing in a flash of light.

Frowning, Sesshoumaru stared at the pokéball as it shrunk before returning it to its place on the strap of his backpack.

Kagome jogged forward, calling Onsen back to his ball with a spring in her step. "That was so close! If Onsen hadn't managed to get Mizu off him, you'd've won for sure!"

Sesshoumaru continued to scowl, staring at his shoes. "I must train hard if I can't even beat you."

"Hey, don't be like that," Kagome told him firmly. "We _just_ got our pokémon, and it was only a friendly battle."

Sesshoumaru looked pointedly away, but soon sighed and relaxed. "Thank you for saying so, but the point still stands – if we want to succeed in our journey, we must train hard."

"And we will," she promised, happily looping her arm through his. "So let's get going! Did you say goodbye to your stepmom?"

He jerked his head in a nod.

"Right, well then! Let's just—"

"You're going now?" Inuyasha asked in a small voice, and Kagome glanced down at him, surprised and embarrassed, for having forgotten he was there in her excitement.

"I'm afraid we are, Inuyasha," she told him. "But your big brother is going to call you as often as he can, like I promised, right Sesshoumaru?" Kagome looked up at him, daring him to say no.

Sesshoumaru sighed. "Inuyasha, I promise to call at every checkpoint we reach."

The boy perked up instantly. "Okay! I'm gonna tell Mom you said that, so we'll both be expecting it!" Turning away, he ran up the road towards his house before facing them again and waving. "Don't forget, Sesshou! You promised!"

Kagome stood again, her eyes soft as she watched him go. "Seeing him run off makes me realize I'm really going to miss Mama, Souta, and Grandpa. Whenever we find a phone, you have to let me call them, okay?"

"Hn," he grunted, adjusting his pack and starting off down the path towards Route 1, and Musashi beyond.

"Hey, wait up!" Kagome laughed, and chased after him.


	2. Chapter 2

They didn't make it but a few steps out of Edo before Kagome brought up something Sesshoumaru had hoped to never have to confront again.

"So…are we going to talk about what happened yesterday?" she asked sweetly.

Sesshoumaru's shoulders stiffened, and he refused to look at her. "I don't know what you're talking about, Kagome."

"No?" Kagome jogged forward slightly, twisting her head so she could peer up into his down-turned face. "How about I remind you?"

Sesshoumaru didn't answer, choosing instead to pick up the pace, his longer legs allowing him to easily keep ahead of her on the road.

"You kissed me!" she shouted cheerfully, grinning when her companion froze in place.

From one second to the next Kagome suddenly found herself face to face with Sesshoumaru, his cheeks slightly flushed and his lips pressed firmly together.

"I did not," he denied mutinously, "_you_ kissed _me_."

Kagome shrugged, rocking back on her heels. "Doesn't matter. Either way, we kissed."

Scowling, Sesshoumaru spun around and continued marching down the road, ignoring her in favour of his shoes. Kagome raced to catch up, her hand reaching for his sleeve.

"Sesshoumaru," she tried, sighing when he practically ripped his arm out of her grasp. "Sesshoumaru, please, I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm not upset," he lied, turning his head to glare at her. "I just think we ought to hurry up if we want to make it to the first checkpoint by dinner time."

"Sesshoumaru, I like you more than a friend," she confessed, ignoring his fib. Her eyebrows slowly twisted with worry when he didn't answer, and she turned her head away sadly. "If you don't feel the same way, I'll understand, but please…just tell me. You've been acting differently since then, and I don't want us to not be friends."

Unnoticed by her, Sesshoumaru glanced at her quickly, hesitating for a brief moment before also looking away, scowling. "I don't," he insisted.

"Oh," she breathed, trying not to be disappointed. Her heart wrenched, but taking a deep breath, managed to put a smile on her face. "Well, thank you for setting me straight."

"Right," he muttered, facing forward again.

The start of their journey, and it was already often to a horrid beginning. _Why couldn't she have just kept quiet?_ Sesshoumaru wondered mournfully, casting Kagome another glance. She kept her eyes turned carefully away from him, and seemed intent on granting his silent wish.

Kagome could go for hours talking about anything and everything that popped into her head – Sesshoumaru remembered one time when they (Kagome) had argued about which was better, Caterpie or Weedle.

On a purely statistical note, Sesshoumaru had to side with Weedle. Not only because Weedle is stronger than Caterpie, but also because of its capability to learn Poison Sting, which is super-effective against Caterpie.

Kagome, of course, had ignored all of his tactical reasoning and dubbed Caterpie the victor – because they are cuter than Weedle.

Sesshoumaru shook his head at the memory. Kagome rarely thought of pokémon in a logical manner. Rather than weighing its strengths against other pokémon, she valued its appearance and personality over all else.

Now, Kagome was by no means petty. She would not have a problem with capturing and training a Weedle – but if faced with a choice, she would fall back on the simple decision of which one she liked more.

Since their childhood, he had been what Kagome liked more. Out of all the boys in Edo, she played with him – confessed to him her secrets, shared her toys with, and above all, told her secrets to.

As Kagome remained silent beside him, Sesshoumaru worried that he may have just ruined years of friendship, and began to regret his curt words. His cheeks pinked again, and he was about to apologize for being unnecessarily mean when Kagome spoke up.

"What do you think the gym leader of Gorintou is like?"

Sesshoumaru blinked, his mind rushing to catch up to the abrupt subject change. "I do not know," he confessed, thinking back to their few weeks of schooling on the gym leaders of Shikon. "Gorintou recently got a new gym leader, as the previous one died some time ago."

"So we don't even know his name?" she frowned.

"It would appear so," he confirmed, eyes contemplative as they watched her. "Kagome, are you no longer upset?"

"U-upset?" she stuttered loudly, "Of course I'm not upset! I'm glad we can still be friends."

"As am I," Sesshoumaru said firmly, eyes serious. "I would like to remain friends."

Kagome looked up at him and slowly relaxed, smiling. "Me too. So, about the Gorintou gym leader…."

"I only know that he is the son of the previous gym leader," Sesshoumaru repeated, "and that he is descended from a monk that made his way here from Johto many generations ago. His ancestor is actually the founder of Gorintou."

"Really? But the first gym is known for its specialization in rock type pokémon," Kagome recalled. "Don't the monks in Johto raise Bellsprout and Hoothoot?"

"They do," he agreed. "Apparently the monk left Johto because he was cursed for wronging a pokémon. He came to Shikon for a fresh start, and to redeem himself. For a long time he lived in the forests between Musashi and what is now Gorintou, trying to befriend pokémon."

"What did he do to be cursed?" Kagome breathed, unable to fathom the severity of his crime, to receive so great a punishment.

Sesshoumaru shrugged. "None know. I am not wholly convinced the legend is based on complete fact, anyway, because it is said to have happened many centuries ago. Stories tend to grow more elaborate as they are repeated."

"So what happened? Did he redeem himself?"

"The legend claims the monk tried his entire life," he replied. "Then, there came a time when he was in the mountains north of here, when he came across a young Onix being attacked by bandits. In an effort to save the Onix, he attacked the bandits himself, but alone he stood no chance, and was killed."

Kagome gasped, her hand reaching up to clasp the front of her shirt. "And the bandits…?"

"At that time, the Onix's parents arrived, having heard its cries. They killed the bandits, and buried the monk. When the Onix he had tried to save also died many years later, its body was used to mark the monk's grave, in the center of what is now Gorintou. It curled around the spot where his saviour had been buried, and the great length of his body spiralled up in five tiers to form a tower."

"So that is why the city is called Gorintou," Kagome breathed. "Five-tiers grave, literally."

"And that is also why the gym leaders of Gorintou specialize in rock pokémon," he concluded. "To honour both the monk and the Onix he saved, who later became his grave marker."

"That's such a sad story," she whispered.

"I doubt it is true," Sesshoumaru repeated blandly. "Though the fact that the tower in Gorintou is made of an Onix's body is certainly truth – its body is clearly discernable."

"Oh Sesshoumaru, you can be so cold sometimes," Kagome scolded, scowling. "How do you know so much about that legend, anyway?"

"I did extra reading while we were in school," he answered haughtily. "I felt learning only what was told us not sufficient for our journey."

"Are you implying I slacked off on my studies?" she huffed, glaring playfully.

"No, only that you lack the drive to further your studies past the bare minimum," he returned easily, making her grin.

"Well, that's what you're for!" Kagome admitted cheerfully, putting a bounce in her step. "I'm the muscle, and you're the brains! Together, we're unstoppable!"

"I am not without muscle," Sesshoumaru retorted, raising one sinewy arm in demonstration.

"Okay, then what role do I play in our journey?" she asked, intrigued.

"I am the logic, and you are the impulse."

"So I'm flighty?" the girl pouted.

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "No. You make your decisions with your heart, and I make mine with my head – together, we make balanced choices."

"Oh," Kagome breathed, looking away with a blush – pleased, despite herself. "Thanks."

He frowned, perturbed. "You're welcome."

"So I'm guessing you named your Squirtle Mizu because it means water?" she giggled.

"Of course," he answered seriously, casting her an exasperated glance. "And I suppose you named Charmander Onsen after those hot baths you enjoy so much?"

"Yep!" she chirped, unabashed. "A name has to have meaning behind it – something significant between the recipient and the giver."

"There is nothing more significant than a name appropriate to the nature of the pokémon."

"That's your opinion," the young trainer laughed. "But it's wrong," she added as a soft afterthought, grinning when he glared at her.

"Mizu is a good name for a Squirtle," he growled.

Kagome put her hands up in surrender, failing to keep her lips from twitching up into a smile. "It is, it is!" she concurred soothingly. Sesshoumaru pressed his lips together and nodded, turning back to face their direction of travel.

"…I'm just saying, I probably could've come up with something better," she badgered, and dashed away, laughing, when Sesshoumaru made to grab her. With a small smile he gave chase, her happy trills sounding in his ears.

* * *

><p>"Sesshoumaru, look!" Kagome gasped, pointed ahead of them. "It's the first check point!"<p>

Glancing up, Sesshoumaru felt excitement bubble up in his chest at the sight of the official building. "We made good time," he commented.

Kagome huffed, lightly punching him in the arm. "Is that all you can say? That building represents so much to all pokémon trainers! Not only the safety that it provides to new trainers – which wasn't always available, if you'll remember our studies! – but also the true start of our journey! Once we enter that building and get our trainer cards, we are officially pokémon trainers, on the road to the Shikon Plateau!"

"Hn. All that?" he smirked, and quickly raised his hands, placating when Kagome raised a fist threateningly.

"Yes, all that," she said on a long exhale, lips twisting in a moue. "Please tell me you're just as excited as I am."

"Kagome…no one can be as excited as you are," he returned. "But yes, I am eager to continue our journey," he added when she pouted.

Immediately it turned into a grin. "Good! Then let's go in, shall we?"

Nodding, Sesshoumaru reached out and opened the door, gesturing for his friend to precede him. With a flounce she did so, smiling cheerfully at the police officer behind the desk.

"Hi!" she chirped.

"Hello," the officer returned, lips twitching at her enthusiasm. "Registering trainers?"

"Yes!" Kagome confirmed, pulling out her pokédex. She reverently put it on the counter in front of the officer, making Sesshoumaru roll his eyes, but smile nevertheless.

"Will you want to take a picture for your cards, or shall I just use the pictures on your profiles?" the man asked, booting up a program on his computer.

"Both of our profile shots were taken recently," Sesshoumaru said by way of reply. "We will not have more taken." Kagome smiled good-naturedly, nodding in agreement.

"Right, I'll just pull up your pokédex profiles and register you for a card." Taking Kagome's pokédex, the officer opened it, eyes widening a little bit as her profile appeared. "Higurashi. Any relation to Professor Higurashi?"

"He's my grandfather," she answered, a little surprised by the officer's awe. "Why?"

The officer canted his head slightly, frowning. "Well…because he's famous. Not just as the Pokémon Professor of Shikon, but also for the check points along the journey. He's the reason they were created."

"He is? I had no idea," Kagome admitted, frowning. "How is he responsible for the check points?"

The man leaned back slightly, arm reaching behind him to grab her trainer card as it printed out from a machine. "I don't know all the details, but when he was a pokémon trainer, he was seriously wounded – enough so that he had to quit his journey, which means it must have been near fatal, for a pokémon trainer to be forced to stop. People – especially parents – realized that could have been avoided if someone had known where he was. And so the check points were created."

"How come no one told me that?" Kagome asked, upset. She looked up to Sesshoumaru, who was in the process of handing over his pokédex. "Did you know?"

He shook his head slightly. "I imagine the Professor didn't want you to feel obligated to complete your journey for his sake, and so never told you."

"I guess that makes sense," she muttered, hurt nonetheless.

The officer picked up Sesshoumaru's pokédex and popped it open, bringing up his profile.

"Damn, today seems to be the day for celebrities!" the officer suddenly chuckled, typing Sesshoumaru's information into the computer. "A Higurashi and a Taisho in the same day; the others will be so jealous!"

Sesshoumaru sighed softly, disappointed. He had hoped to be able to escape the weight of his father's name, but it seemed that would not happen. It would make it much more difficult to surpass him this way, with everyone constantly comparing them.

"Hey," Kagome murmured to him as the officer turned away to retrieve his trainer card. "You may be a Taisho to everyone else, but to me you are only Sesshoumaru. Remember that."

He blinked, glancing down at her silently before smiling ruefully. "Thank you, Kagome."

"No problem. That's what friends are for."

"Right here we are," the officer announced, sliding their pokédexes and cards across the counter to them. "Both of you are now registered pokémon trainers. Congratulations!"

Kagome scooped up her belongings gleefully, pocketing her pokédex to stare at her trainer card. It shone up at her, the light reflecting off its shiny surface. Right at the top was her name, followed by her trainer number. The rest of the information was identical to that on her pokédex profile, things such as her address and date of birth.

It was the chip in the bottom corner that excited her. That small chip would allow her to record her battles with other trainers, gym leaders, and eventually the Elite Four. It was that chip that held her pokémon trainer account data, and would let her access item and pokémon storage at Pokémon Centers, along with allowing her to enter trainer-limited areas, such as the Safari Zone, and enter contests, like the Pokémon Beauty Contest.

"I can barely believe it," she breathed, and was glad to see her awed understanding reflected in Sesshoumaru's eyes, at least. "We're trainers now."

The officer chuckled lightly, and reached below his desk for something. "You're not the first trainers I've registered, but you're the first I've encountered that seemed so affected by it. I'd like to give you a little something, to help you on your journey."

"What?" Kagome asked, standing on her tiptoes curiously.

"A potion and set of pokéballs," he answered, pulling out said items. "We keep them around in case of emergencies, but I'd like you two to take them."

"Thank you so much," she said gratefully, smiling sadly, "but we couldn't."

"I insist," the officer pushed, sliding two potions and ten pokéballs towards them. "It won't be difficult to replace them, and you probably don't have much money yet, right?"

"We do not," Sesshoumaru confirmed blandly, eying the items.

"Then think of them as a gift," the man cajoled winningly.

"If you are sure it's okay," Kagome muttered slowly, hand reaching out.

"I am."

"Well all right," she whispered, taking half the items. She put them in her bag and then reached out her hand, shaking the officer's firmly. "Thank you again, we really appreciate it. With these, we'll be able to catch some pokémon in the forest before even reaching Musashi."

"It is my pleasure. Now, back to your journey!" Turning in his seat, the officer pointed grandly to the set of double doors opposite of where they had come in. "Through those doors is the first area on your journey, Bone Eater's Forest. I've already checked you into the region with your registration, so just make sure to check out when you reach the other side."

"We will!" Kagome promised, fairly skipping towards the door. "C'mon, Sesshoumaru!"

With a small nod to the officer, Sesshoumaru followed her out the doors. Outside, they found themselves back on the path, and just ahead of them was the entrance to the forest. Trees thickly lined the horizon in front of them, the path cutting cleanly through the dense foliage.

"Bone Eater's Forest," she breathed, staring at it. "This is it, Sesshoumaru. We've officially started our journey."

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"I was born for this," she replied, grinning up at him. They started down the path together, and soon entered the deep shadows of the forest. The sounds of bird song and other animals filtered down towards them, surrounding them with the sound of forest life.

"You know," Kagome began, fingering her pokéball lovingly, "at the center of Bone Eater's Forest is said to be a sacred tree called Goshinboku. It is over five millennia old, and is the heart of life in the forest.

"Pokémon are said to gather there at certain times of the year, though no one knows why because scientists have been unable to get close enough to study it and the pokémon that go there."

"Hn," Sesshoumaru grunted, adjusting his pack nonchalantly. He slanted her a determined glance, smirking. "Maybe we could."

"What?" Kagome gasped, eyes widening. "Are you crazy? If the elite of Shikon can't do it, what makes you think we can?"

He shrugged, looking away. "Maybe the pokémon do not allow the scientists close because they can feel that their interests are tainted with the thoughts of studies and experiments. But if you are not up to the challenge…."

"I so am!" she denied hotly.

"Good," he rumbled eagerly. "If we are to do this, I believe we should get off the path." Moving dexterously, he swung his backpack around to rest against his chest, quickly pulling out his map.

"I don't know if we should do that…"

"Come, Kagome, where is your sense of adventure?" he ribbed blandly, studying the map. "We can hardly experience a true journey if we follow the route set to us by others."

"This is the forest," he said, pointing to a large dark green section of the map. "If the Goshinboku is truly in the center, then it is likely here." His finger moved slowly toward the center of the marked forest, tapping it idly. "We are southeast of the center. If we travel northwest, eventually we should reach the middle."

"And if we don't find it?" she asked.

Sesshoumaru shrugged again, folding up the map and shoving it into his pocket. "Then we will have taken a chance at adventure. 'It is better to have tried and failed, thhan to not have tried at all,'" he quoted. So saying, he stepped around her and off the path, disappearing into the underbrush.

"This is crazy," she muttered, following after him. "If pokémon really do gather at the center, they're going to kill us for invading their territory."

* * *

><p>"We're lost," Kagome moaned, slumping behind him.<p>

"We are not lost," Sesshoumaru insisted firmly, checking his map. "We are just taking a…detour."

"A detour passed Off The Beaten Path and straight across the river into LOST!" Kagome flopped over, sitting under a tree while he determinedly studied his map before glancing around them and then back to the map.

"Face it, Sesshoumaru, this was a bad idea," she continued, closing her eyes. "I can understand you wanting to one-up your dad, especially after that police officer recognized your name, but this is crazy."

Sesshoumaru scowled, glaring at her. "That is not why I wanted to do this."

"No? I can't think of any other reason, because you've never shown much inclination before to—" The sounds of a twig snapping above them made Sesshoumaru stiffen with alertness.

"Quiet!" Sesshoumaru suddenly hissed, turning to look around them.

Kagome gaped, surprised by his sudden interruption, before glaring up at him. "Don't tell me to—"

"I said stop talking," he repeated, shushing her. "I can hear something."

She was standing immediately, holding onto his arm. "What is it?" she whispered worriedly, eyes darting around. "Do you think it is a pokémon?"

"Most likely." His hand reached up slowly, Kagome's mirroring his actions toward her belt. As one they unclipped their pokéballs, a soft hiss filling the air as they released the locking mechanisms.

The pokéballs opened with a click, Mizu and Onsen appearing in a flash of red light.

"Char!"

"Squirt!"

Both pokémon gazed up at their trainers expectantly when another snap was suddenly heard, again from high above them. Immediately the pokémon leapt back slightly, falling into fighting stances and staring up at the foliage, their trainers following their line of sight. The sound of snapping twigs and crunching leaves grew louder and louder until finally, in a burst of greenery and feathers, a small Pidgey crashed through the branches, landing weakly in front of them.

"_Bzzt. Pidgey, the tiny bird pokémon. A common sight in forests and woods. If attacked, it will often kick up sand to protect itself rather than fight back."_

Before Squirtle and Charmander could attack Kagome rushed forward, her eyes worried. "Oh no! Sesshoumaru, this Pidgey is hurt!"

He followed her more slowly, glancing up through the gap the Pidgey's body had made contemplatively, but nevertheless crouching down beside her. His fingers reached past her fluttering ones, gently inspecting the panting Pidgey.

"Something attacked this pokémon," he muttered.

"Are you sure? Maybe it just…fell?" she asked sheepishly.

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "No, it was definitely attacked. Look at the wounds above its wings," he directed, pointed to the marks.

"They're…claw marks," Kagome gasped, "as if something tried to grab it."

He nodded slightly. "Most likely a larger winged pokémon," he deduced, "such as a Fearow."

"We have to heal it," she insisted. "There's no way Pidgey can survive with wounds like this."

"I agree." With a grunt he dropped his pack and pulled out his potion. "We'll use this."

"Sesshoumaru, that's the potion that the officer gave you!"

"I know," he muttered. He swiftly uncapped the top and lightly shook the bottle. "But we don't have any other choice."

Seeing large hands holding a strange, shiny object advance towards it, Pidgey began to struggle weakly, wings spreading in an attempt to kick up dirt. When the movement pulled at its wounded shoulders Pidgey let out a sharp cry.

Onsen and Mizu immediately rushed forward, making soothing noises. The Pidgey calmed down slightly, gazing at the other pokémon and cooing weakly.

While it was distracted, Sesshoumaru reached down again and lightly held its body, spraying the healing potion over its wounds, not stopping until it was empty. The Pidgey relaxed further and further as the potion numbed its pain, until finally Sesshoumaru could pick it up gently in his arms.

"We should go to a Pokémon Center," Kagome suggested, watching the Pidgey anxiously. "That potion is only a temporary solution; it needs to see a Nurse."

"Then we must hurry. Kagome, please carry my pack for me."

"Of course," she answered hurriedly, reaching down for it. A sudden loud caw had her looking up, and she cried out as, from the gap in the trees, a huge shape appeared, swooping down towards her.

"Sesshoumaru!"


	3. Chapter 3

Sesshoumaru turned around sharply when he heard his name shouted, reacting immediately. "Mizu," he ordered firmly.

"Squirt!" Rushing forward swiftly, Mizu tackled the large shadow as it fell upon Kagome, landing in a tumble of claws and feathers.

"Char!" Onsen cried worriedly, appearing at his trainer's side. Panting from the adrenalin, Kagome slowly got to her feet, laying a shaking hand on Onsen's head.

"I'm fine," she whispered reassuringly. "I'm fine, fine…"

"BREEEEE!"

Directing their attention to the angry cry, Sesshoumaru scowled at the sight of a fully mature Fearow, pulling out his pokédex. "As I thought; this Fearow likely hoped to make an easy meal of our Pidgey."

"_Bzzt. Fearow, the sharp beak pokémon. With its huge and magnificent wings, it can keep aloft without ever having to land for rest. If it senses danger, it flies high and away, instantly."_

Kagome stared at his pokédex, an idea forming in her mind. "Sesshoumaru, if we show that we are too much trouble for Fearow to handle, it will surely fly away!"

"It is certainly worth a try. Mizu, use tail whip!"

"Onsen, use scratch!"

Lifting its tail high, Mizu began slapping her tail against the Fearow roughly, battering at its defences methodically. The Fearow let out a loud cry, its wings flapping, desperately trying to get out from underneath the small Squirtle.

Just as it seemed to be able to wiggle out and away from Mizu's relentless attack, Onsen leapt atop it, his claws coming down to scratch it. They raked several long cuts down the side of its head and neck. The Fearow's struggles increased, and with a mighty push managed to get out from under the two pokémon, but not before Onsen succeeded in leaving more claw marks along its chest and belly.

Cawing loudly, Fearow pumped its great wings to hover in the air above them. It seemed ready to try diving down towards its opponents when a rush of bubbles suddenly exploded against its chest. Crying out, the Fearow listed slightly to the side before making a quick escape, leaving through the opening in the branches its prey had left behind.

"…We did it!" Kagome shouted, leaping up into the air. "Onsen, you were so great!"

"Char char!" he called, racing towards her. She scooped him up into her arms immediately, spinning around and laughing.

"You both were so amazing!" she praised, slowing to a stop. "And Mizu! God, Sesshoumaru did you see that?"

"Hn," he grunted in affirmation. He gazed down at his pokémon, smirking proudly. "Well done, Mizu. As should be expected from any pokémon of mine."

Kagome rolled her eyes fondly. "And as I should expect from you! She just learned the bubble attack, and all you can say is 'as should be expected.'"

Sesshoumaru frowned. "I am not as excitable as you, Kagome; that does not mean I do not care."

"I know," she said softly, smiling.

Mizu trotted over to Sesshoumaru happily, her smile wide as she approached her trainer. With a short hop she clambered up to rest on his back, nuzzling into his neck contentedly. "Squirt," she murmured.

Kagome chuckled slightly, cuddling her own pokémon closer. "I guess Mizu already understands you as well as I do."

Sesshoumaru's eyes softened and he lifted one hand from holding Pidgey to gently tickle Mizu's chin. "As should be expected," he murmured, shooting Kagome an amused glance. She giggled but soon sobered up.

"Now let's get to the Pokémon Center. The closest one is in Musashi, so we just have to get back to the path and follow it," Kagome instructed. She reached down and picked up his pack, slinging it over one shoulder.

"Then we should go in that direction," Sesshoumaru indicated with his chin, pointing to where they had come from.

"How can you be so sure? After all, you did get us lost," she teased, walking past him.

He scowled fiercely, eyes narrowing. "I told you already, we weren't lost. I don't know what happened, but we were going in the right direction, and we should have—"

"Bree!"

At the sound of the sharp coo, Sesshoumaru and Kagome froze, casting each other worried glances. As one, trainers and pokémon slowly turned around to face their new opponent, only to become confused when they saw a pair of large Pidgeot standing under the tree Kagome had sat at.

"_Bzzt. Pidgeot, the large bird pokémon. Its well-developed chest muscles make it strong enough to whip up a gusty windstorm capable of bending tall trees with just a few flaps."_

As if sensing the presence of the two Pidgeot, Pidgey lifted its head slightly, eyes opening to stare blearily at them. It cooed softly, and the Pidgeot immediately canted their heads, gaze locked on the trainers.

"I think they're staring at us," Kagome murmured, leaning in towards Sesshoumaru. He nodded mutely, keeping his eyes trained on the large birds.

Recognizing that they had the attention of the humans, the Pidgeot turned away simultaneously, flapping their wings gently to gain lift without disturbing the air. They flew together through the branches, disappearing above the tops of the trees.

Just as their forms vanished from sight, Kagome and Sesshoumaru heard the sound of their calls, coming clearly from the direction Sesshoumaru had said would lead to the center of the forest.

"I believe they wish for us to follow them," Sesshoumaru speculated. The Pidgey in his arms gave a coo of agreement.

"I don't know if we should," Kagome murmured, glancing uneasily in the direction the Pidgeot had gone.

"We do not have much choice," he answered grimly. "Even if we went to the Pokémon Center, I don't think Pidgey will make it that long. The Pidgeot may be leading us to someone who can heal it."

"I guess," she muttered, following Sesshoumaru anyway when he began hiking after the departing bird pokémon.

"What do you think, Onsen?" Kagome asked of her Charmander, looking down at where he loped beside her.

"Char!" he replied happily, picking up his pace a little to catch up with Sesshoumaru and Mizu.

"I hope you're right," she sighed, trailing after the others.

* * *

><p>They weren't walking long before the foliage began to thin out and grow smaller, the larger, dense trees of the forest fading away behind them.<p>

"We must be coming up on a meadow," Kagome commented, frowning as something niggled at her memory. "Can I see your map for a sec, Sesshoumaru?"

He nodded. "It is in my pocket."

Reaching forward she took the map and opened it intently, immediately zeroing in on the Bone Eater's Forest, and noticing something missing. "There's no meadow on the map," she realized. "Sesshoumaru, look!"

"At what?" he asked impatiently, turning toward her. The map was quickly shoved in his face, Kagome's finger pointing at the large green area he had indicated earlier.

"That's the forest, right? But look – according to the map, there is no meadow!"

"So?" he asked blandly.

"_So?_ So wherever those Pidgeot are leading us, it isn't somewhere that's known to Shikon! Otherwise it would have been charted and mapped, right?"

"…Then this must be…"

"The center," she finished for him, awe filling her gaze. "The sacred place of the Goshinboku." Their eyes met before turning as one towards the last bit of greenery blocking their sight from the meadow they were sure lay beyond.

Pushing aside that last bit of shrubbery, Sesshoumaru and Kagome stared around them breathlessly at the scene that revealed itself.

Before them was a large meadow, surrounded by trees and foliage in a perfect circle, as if to delineate it from the rest of the forest. The trees stretched high up into the air, their branches and leaves weaving together, only allowing in filtered light. Their eyes traced the branches, following their pointing fingers of wood toward the center of the meadow where, standing taller than any building Sesshoumaru and Kagome had every seen, was the Goshinboku.

Its branches stretched up and out, reaching to touch and weave into the grasping branches of the surrounding trees, creating a barrier, hiding the meadow from the outside world. The light that made it through the canopy painted the meadow with its golden light, giving the entire area a warm feeling of safety and comfort.

As they stepped further into the meadow, Pidgey let out a soft trill, and as though they had been waiting for the call, pokémon began spilling out into the open. From within and behind the Goshinboku, they gazed at the humans with curious eyes, wary of the strangers entering their glade, even invited.

From above the Pidgeot that Sesshoumaru and Kagome had been following appeared, swooping down to land before the great tree. Their heads canted towards them, making the trainers walk forward at the obvious summons. Striding passed all the pokémon slowly gathering around them in a circle, Sesshoumaru and Kagome only stopped when they were directly in front of the Goshinboku.

The larger Pidgeot stepped forward and opened its wings wide, voice rising in a loud trill before slowly fading off into silence. Around them the other pokémon began a low hum, and Kagome shuddered slightly as the feeling of rising waves of energy pushed into her; it flowed out of her and moved on first to Sesshoumaru, then Onsen, and Mizu.

As the energy speared out to touch the pokémon around them, the Pidgeot lowered its wings, and looking up to Sesshoumaru, indicated with its head that he should lay the Pidgey down by the roots of the tree. Kneeling down he did so, Kagome mirroring his position respectfully. Reaching forward, she soothingly stroked the Pidgey's breast feathers as finally, the energy completed its journey around the meadow and flowed into him.

Before their awed eyes the deep claw marks on its shoulders closed, and the Pidgey took a long breath before its eyes blinked open. Hopping up onto its feet, the Pidgey spread first one, then both wings experimentally.

"Bree, bree!"

The two Pidgeot hopped over to crowd in on either side of the Pidgey, their heads coming down to happily nudge against it, beaks teasing and smoothing small feathers.

"Oh," Kagome breathed, understanding dawning. "They must be Pidgey's parents…PARENTS!" She spun to face Sesshoumaru, expression anxious. "Sesshoumaru, I forgot to call Mama when we reached the checkpoint!"

Sesshoumaru shrugged. "There is nothing we can do now. We will call when we reach Musashi."

"But that could be at least two days from now," she murmured, watching as the bird pokémon cooed to each other. Guilt squeezed her heart – no doubt her Mama would be as worried for her as the Pidgeot clearly had been for their Pidgey.

As if sensing her feelings, the large Pidgeot who had begun the strange ceremony turned to her, the intelligence in its eyes startling her briefly. Flapping its wings, Pidgeot tapped its leg slightly, and Kagome's head tilted, confused.

"Bree!" it trilled, stretching forward to tap her fingers lightly and then its leg again.

"Oh!" she gasped, lifting her tingling fingers as comprehension dawned. "You would deliver a letter?"

The Pidgeot nodded firmly.

"Thank you!" Dropping the packs she yet had on her shoulders, Kagome rummaged through hers, soon pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. With quick work she wrote a letter of apology to her mother for not calling, and explained that she would arrive in Musashi within the next few days, where she would _definitely_ remember to call.

Rolling the note up into a cylinder, she used one of her spare hair-ties to hold it closed. Task complete, she approached the Pidgeot slowly, and when it didn't make any sudden movements towards her, Kagome relaxed and tied the message to its leg using another hair-tie.

"My mother is in Edo," she told the Pidgeot. "Do you know it?" The bird nodded regally. "My home is the only one with a red roof."

With those sets of instruction the large Pidgeot gave its mate and fledgling one last nuzzle before it took to the air, soon disappearing from sight.

Her attention was drawn back to their surroundings as the pokémon around them dispersed, and the awe she had felt as they entered the clearing returned.

"We really found it," she breathed, reaching out to touch the tree. The pulse of life she felt at her stroke didn't surprise her after what they had just experienced. "I can see why the pokémon guard the Goshinboku so much from outsiders."

The remaining Pidgeot pecked her hand warningly, and Kagome cried out softly. Sesshoumaru immediately pushed himself between girl and bird, scowling. The Pidgeot merely stared at him calmly, and Kagome placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "I think that was more meant as a warning," she murmured, calming down.

"Let me see your fingers," he insisted, turning to face her. She held out her hand and Sesshoumaru took it gently. No mark revealed itself to his gaze, and he nodded, satisfied.

To the Pidgeot, he spoke firmly. "If you feared we would reveal to others this place you have shown us, you would not have done so. We will not abuse that trust."

Rather than being answered by the Pidgeot, Pidgey hopped forward, plopping itself in Sesshoumaru's lap with a happy trill. Kagome giggled. "I think he likes you."

The youth blinked, staring down at the Pidgey, face shuttered. Finally, he lifted one hand and teased the feathers atop Pidgey's head, making the bird coo. It likely would have stayed in his lap indefinitely, but the remaining Pidgeot lightly nudged the Pidgey with her beak before flying up into the tree. The Pidgey cast Sesshoumaru one last longing look before following its mother.

Around them the other pokémon were following suit, returning to their nests and dens in the glade. Noticing this, Kagome looked up into the trees and realized that the sun was steadily setting, the hidden meadow becoming shrouded in shadow.

"It's getting dark out," she commented, watching as a pair of Rattata scampered past and into a hole hidden between two large roots of the Goshinboku. "I think we should stay here for the night."

Though he would have preferred to continue their journey, Sesshoumaru understood the practicality of staying in the meadow for the night. He sighed softly, nodding. "Very well. But we should leave first thing in the morning."

Kagome began taking out her sleeping bag, yawning. "All right," she acceded, and unrolling the sleeping bag, crawled inside. Once situated to her comfort, Kagome looked to Onsen and smiled. "I think it'd be best if you returned to your pokéball," she said apologetically, taking it out. Charmander happily returned to his ball, and Kagome quickly put it back on her belt, laying the accessory on the ground beside her.

Sesshoumaru echoed her actions, soon lying full-length beside her in his own sleeping bag, Mizu in her ball. He stared up at the canopy, watching as stars began to appear between the leaves.

Kagome turned toward him in her bag, gaze thoughtful. "Sesshoumaru?"

"Hn."

"Should we really keep this place a secret? The Goshinboku obviously has healing properties – who knows what else it can do. Surely humans would be able to benefit from studying it."

Sesshoumaru shook his head, turning to look at her. "Not all people are like you, Kagome. Rather than simply studying it, and gaining knowledge from it, many would seek to take advantage of it.

"No," he said firmly, looking back up at the tree-formed roof. "We must tell no one that we were allowed here."

"It seems a shame, but you're right," she admitted, sighing and following the direction of his gaze. "It's beautiful in here," she said wistfully. "I feel blessed."

He glanced over at her, and the soft look, along with the small smile, on her face had him looking away again, embarrassed. "As do I."

* * *

><p>Sesshoumaru began packing as soon as he awoke the next morning, allowing Kagome to sleep in a bit longer. Around them the forest was stirring to life with the rising sun.<p>

Rattata and Raticate were crawling out of their dens. From the trees, Metapod and Kakuna were inching their way down out of the protective leaves to bask in the rays of light seeping into the clearing. Caterpie and Weedle were munching in the dense foliage, while Butterfree and Beedrill left to pollinate the forest.

Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and Pidgeot were pecking at the ground with Spearow, searching for grubs and worms to eat. One separated themselves from the flock, happily hopping over to where Sesshoumaru stood watching.

"Bree, bree!"

He looked down at the pokémon, crouching to lightly scratch under its beak. "You're the Pidgey from yesterday," he observed softly. "I am glad you are well."

The Pidgey cooed, head tilting back slightly and eyes closing as Sesshoumaru continued to tease its feathers.

"He definitely likes you," Kagome's sleepy voice announced. Sesshoumaru turned his head slightly to watch her rise and stretch, snatching his hand back to his side.

"Hn," he grunted.

"You gonna catch him?" she asked, sliding out of her sleeping bag and rolling it up. Strapping it back onto her bag, she picked up her belt and looped it around her waist, clicking it in place. She rubbed Onsen's ball idly, glancing down at Pidgey. "After all, we have to start catching pokémon eventually."

Sesshoumaru nodded wordlessly, gazing at the Pidgey contemplatively. "Would you like to travel with me?" he asked the bird.

"Bree!"

He smirked slightly, standing. "Very well. If this is what you desire, a battle is not necessary. Prepare yourself, Pidgey."

The small pokémon hopped back slightly, wings fluttering as it tweeted loudly.

Reaching down with one hand, he unlatched one of the pokéballs on the shoulders straps of his bag, the ball growing in size with nary a sound. Clicking the lock, Sesshoumaru threw the ball, watching as Pidgey disappeared within it in a flash of red light. The pokéball rocked back and forth once, twice, thrice, before settling with a quiet gong, the lock engaging.

"If only catching pokémon was always that easy," Kagome chuckled as Sesshoumaru walked forward to retrieve the pokéball. "What will you name him?"

Sesshoumaru stared at the ball silently, gaze thoughtful. "I believe I will call him…Tori."

Kagome giggled, shaking her head. "Bird? Really, Sesshoumaru, the names you come up with are so literal."

He scowled slightly, reattaching the pokéball to his bag. "It is appropriate."

"You're right, I'm sorry," she apologized, shouldering her backpack. She glanced around the clearing again, eyes misting softly. "It's a shame to leave so soon, but we need to get to Musashi."

"Your mother will be expecting your call," he agreed, putting on his bag.

"Your stepmom is waiting to hear from you too," she reminded him. He frowned slightly.

Together they began making their way out of the clearing, the pokémon largely ignoring them. They were about to re-enter the surrounding forest when Kagome heard an angry squeak from behind her. Turning slightly, she cooed at the sight of an angry Rattata, its tail bristling at them. Her eyes immediately focused on the star shaped pattern spanning across his snout between his eyes.

"Oh you are so cute!" she cried, bouncing slightly.

"_Bzzt. Rattata, the field mouse pokémon. Will chew on anything with its fangs. If you see one, it is certain that 40 more live in the area."_

Sesshoumaru glanced behind him and rolled his eyes. "Kagome, we must leave now if we wish to reach Musashi by nightfall."

"Aww, c'mon Sesshoumaru! You got to catch a pokémon!" She pouted sweetly, and he sighed, backing down. She cheered, reaching for Onsen's ball.

"C'mon, Onsen! Let's catch this Rattata!" She quickly released him, and Charmander stretched slightly, flexing his claws eagerly. Immediately the Rattata leapt upon him, teeth sinking into his chest.

"Char!" he growled. Rattata flinched at the noise, his teeth loosening slightly.

Kagome gasped worriedly, stepping forward slightly. "Onsen, use scratch!"

His claws flashed quickly, sinking into soft skin and leaving deep grooves. Rattata released him with a pained squeak, falling back weakly. Onsen struggled to stand, his breath coming in short gasps. On one particularly hard inhale, Onsen's chest expanded widely before it was released, a stream of fire escaping to burn Rattata's leg.

Rattata cried out, its leg twitching painfully as it collapsed. Curling onto its side, it began to lick the burn, trying to soothe the ache.

"Right," Kagome said uncertainly, reaching for a pokéball. Her heart twinged painfully at Rattata's pain. Expanding the ball, she quickly threw it. The ball opened and pulled Rattata in. It barely rocked back and forth before stopping, the red light of the lock going out as it was caught.

She immediately rushed forward, swiftly putting the pokéball on her belt before kneeling beside Charmander, who had one paw covering his bite mark. "Are you okay, Onsen?" she murmured.

He nodded slowly, leaning against her arm.

"We're going to take you to a Pokémon Centre," she promised, holding out his pokeball. "You'll be better soon."

Onsen quickly returned to his ball, and Kagome stood with a sigh, her eyes catching Sesshoumaru's beseechingly. He nodded in understanding.

"Let's go."

* * *

><p>With her pokémon to worry about, Kagome pushed herself to walk faster, and they made it back to where they had first met Tori within half a day when Kagome suddenly felt a strange pulse of power. Her head snapped to the side, her eyes trying to catch sight of whatever was tugging at the back of her mind.<p>

"Sesshoumaru," she started. He kept walking.

"Sesshoumaru," Kagome tried again, louder. He turned around, brow knitted with confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"Something is wrong," she murmured, looking around her. "Something isn't…right." She walked off the path, pushing aside foliage to follow the pulse of power.

"Kagome?" Sesshoumaru called after her, surprised by her sudden change in demeanour. "Kagome?" Exhaling hard, he followed her into the trees. The surrounding plants were so dense he almost didn't see her as he stomped forward, barely stopping himself from bumping into her still figure.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking around her. It felt as if his stomach dropped when his eyes fell upon the old well in front of them, half buried under vegetation. He felt the hair on the back of his neck rise, and took a step back before realizing what he was doing and firmly keeping himself still.

"Evil lives here," she murmured, stepping back to get behind him. "Sesshoumaru, this place…something bad happened here, I can feel it."

He raised a hand to take her arm, pulling her back. "Let's go," he suggested. "Onsen and your Rattata need treatment, and we're still more than half a day from Musashi."

"That well…"

"Do not think of it," Sesshoumaru ordered firmly. "Think of your pokémon. Let's go."

"Yes," she agreed. "Yes, let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

"We're almost there Kagome, stop worrying."

"I can't help it," she mumbled, bag straps held tightly in her hands. She focused on her steps, as if willing her feet to move as fast as possible. "Battling that Rattata…"

"It was not the same as our battle," Sesshoumaru finished for her.

Kagome nodded miserably. "Battling you was innocent in comparison – we stopped when we were pushed to far. But the Rattata didn't do that, so I couldn't either. And now both of my pokémon are injured."

"We aren't much further from Musashi," he said again. "The Pokémon Centre shall be our first stop."

"Okay," she agreed, giving him a small, grateful smile. "I also still feel a little shaken up after seeing that well."

"It was a strange place for one," Sesshoumaru acknowledged, his eyes shifting uneasily. He remembered the feeling he had gotten from the wooden structure – like a cold shiver running down his neck – a feeling that something truly horrible had happened there, leaving its impression in the very timber.

"It's not just where it was," Kagome disagreed, frowning thoughtfully. "The very air felt permeated with evil." She glanced up at her friend, and noticed his stiff shoulders and tightly pinched lips. "You felt it too, didn't you?"

Sesshoumaru hesitated briefly. "Yes," he sighed, "I did."

"What could have caused something like that?"

"I know not. The well is not anywhere near the path that trainers take through the forest, and yet only people could have made it. Perhaps it was abandoned after an accident," he reasoned. "It would explain the overgrowth."

"It didn't feel old, though," Kagome mused. "It felt…fresh. Like something happened recently. Something that would cause even the pokémon to avoid it."

"Did someone say…pokémon?"

Kagome jerked in surprise, gasping at the sound of the strong male voice. She spun in place, staring uncomprehendingly at the teenager smirking at them.

"What do you want?" Sesshoumaru demanded, stepping forward slightly.

"How about a battle?" the youth offered, flicking wavy black bangs out of his startlingly red eyes.

Kagome glanced up at Sesshoumaru anxiously. "Sesshoumaru…"

"No," he answered firmly, taking Kagome's arm and gently turning her away from the other boy. "Our pokémon are injured, and need healing. Perhaps another time."

"Allow me to rephrase myself," he continued, glaring as he took out a pokéball. It grew in his hand, his finger hovering over the release button. "I _challenge_ you to a battle. You cannot refuse."

"Very well," Sesshoumaru muttered. He dropped his bag, reaching inside for his pokédex and trainer card. "Let's exchange cards, shall we?"

The other boy wavered, frowning. "There's no need to be so formal. Let's just battle!"

Sesshoumaru's brow rose in surprise. "It is illegal to not register a trainer fight. If anyone were to find out…"

"What, are you scared?" he sneered, laughing.

Sesshoumaru stiffened angrily, growling. "Of course not."

"Then don't patronize me with your 'rules' and fight me!"

He reached for his pokéball when he felt Kagome's hand on his. "Sesshoumaru, this isn't a good idea," she murmured, casting the stranger a wary glance.

"It's like he said, Kagome," the Taisho replied, "No one has to find out, and he won't leave us alone until one of us battles him."

"We should at least ask for his name," Kagome advised softly.

"All right," he acquiesced.

"Are we battling or what?" the other snapped, clenching his pokéball in his hand.

"First, tell us your name," Sesshoumaru demanded.

"It's Naraku," he answered shortly. "Now show me what you've got!" Throwing his pokéball, Naraku smirked as it popped open, his pokémon appearing in a flash of light.

"Sesshoumaru, that's…!"

"_Bzzt, Bulbasaur. The plant lizard pokémon. A strange seed is planted on its back at birth. The plant sprouts and grows with this pokémon."_

"A Bulbasaur," he noted. "Professor Higurashi didn't say there would be a third trainer this year."

"Didn't he? That's strange, because how else would I have one?" Naraku asked, mock surprise etched on his face.

Sesshoumaru hesitated briefly, his hand hovering over Mizu's ball. Making his decision, he grabbed the other and threw it, Tori appearing in a flash.

"Bree!" he cried, eyes sighting Bulbasaur, who took a tiny step back.

"Bulba…"

Naraku glared at his pokémon, jaw clenching. "Bulbasaur, use tackle!"

Bulbasaur, sensing his master's anger, leapt forward swiftly.

"Tori, use sand attack!" Sesshoumaru ordered quickly.

Pidgey reacted instantly, using his wings to kick up dust on the ground, creating a cloud of sand that surrounding Bulbasaur.

"Saur!" he cried, eyes clenching shut.

"No! You stupid thing!" Naraku shouted. "Use growl!"

Bulbasaur growled weakly, frightened by its inability to see anything.

Sesshoumaru smirked triumphantly. "Tori, use gust."

The bird's wings flapped harder, its small body lifting up slightly off the ground. Bulbasaur cried out as sand particles bit into his flesh, in addition to the hard buffeting winds slapping against his skin.

Kagome watched anxiously, hands wringing together.

Her friend scowled, eyes narrowing. "Recall your pokémon. You cannot win this battle."

Naraku sneered nastily, crossing his arms. "If he won't fight properly, he needs to toughen up."

Bulbasaur pressed itself as close to the ground as possible, eyes firmly closed to protect against the wind. It quivered, trying to hide its face within its forelegs.

"He's close to fainting!" Kagome shouted. "Call him back to his ball!"

Naraku bared his teeth at her in a mad grin. "No."

Sesshoumaru frowned, eyes focussed on the cowering Bulbasaur. "Tori, return," he called, holding out his pokéball. Tori returned without protest, and he snapped it back onto his strap.

His opponent glared angrily, calling Bulbasaur back to his ball, who returned with a relieved sigh. "Why did you stop your attack?" he snapped.

"It does not make sense to punish your pokémon for being unable to overcome another," Sesshoumaru bit out, disgusted by the other's actions. "You refused to stop – so I did."

"You're weak," Naraku snubbed, dismissing him with a wave of his hand. "You're all weak."

"Wait!" Kagome shouted as he began to leave, headed back for Bone Eater's Forest. "Bulbasaur needs to be healed. Musashi has the closest Centre – please take him there."

Naraku cast Kagome a withering glance, making her shrink back. "He is my pokémon – don't stick your nose in where it doesn't belong." Before they could say anything else, he walked away, heading off the path and into the forest.

"Sesshoumaru, can we really let him go? He's obviously not taking care of my Grandfather's pokémon."

His eyes were focussed on where the other had disappeared, appearing to be thinking about her question. Finally he shook his head, and continued on their path to Musashi. Kagome cast one last glance in the other direction before catching up with him, clearly uncertain.

"Professor Higurashi would not have given the Bulbasaur to someone undeserving. When we reach Musashi, we will call him while our pokémon are healing."

Sesshoumaru's face was dark as he looked towards the path to Musashi. "If his answer is unsatisfactory, we will contact the authorities."

* * *

><p>"Bulbasaur was <em>stolen<em>?"

"Yes," her grandfather's voice came, sounding tired. "The lab was broken into the same night you left. The alarms didn't go off, so no one knew what had happened until the next morning."

Kagome and Sesshoumaru shared a look from where they stood in front of the video call platform. "What about the security cameras? Did they catch the guy that did it?"

Her grandfather shook his head slowly. "When the police investigated they found that the wires had been cut, and there is not surveillance in my personal offices."

"So the police have no idea who they are looking for?"

"No," he sighed. Mama Higurashi patted his shoulder gently from where she sat beside him.

Sesshoumaru tapped his fingers on the table agitatedly. "I think we might know."

"What?"

"Sesshoumaru battled someone earlier today who was using a Bulbasaur," Kagome explained, sure they were right now that she thought of it. "When Sesshoumaru took out his pokédex to register the battle, he stopped him, wanting to keep it off the record."

"That's illegal!" a young voice piped up. Souta appeared on the screen, plopping into his mother's lap. "You didn't fight him, did you Sesshou?"

Sesshoumaru grimaced, ashamed of his lapse in judged. "He coerced me into battling him even without having a pokédex or trainer card. He must be the person you are looking for, Professor."

"Do you know his name?" Grandpa asked eagerly.

"He called himself Naraku," Kagome answered.

"If you can remember what he looked like as well, you should go to the police immediately," Mama Higurashi told them. "It will greatly help the investigation."

"Okay, Mama," Kagome promised. "We'll go as soon as we're done at the Centre."

"Did you catch any pokémon yet?" Souta asked excitedly, leaning forward over their kitchen table.

Kagome grinned brightly. "Sure did, Souta! I've caught a Rattata, and Sesshoumaru caught a Pidgey!"

"Speaking of your Rattata, you have not named him yet," Sesshoumaru reminded her.

"You're right!" she gasped. "So much has happened, I completely forgot."

"…So?" Souta asked, barely suppressing his anticipation. "What will you name Rattata?"

"How about…Hoshi? He has this adorable star shaped mark over his face!"

"Seems a little girly," Souta pouted, "naming him after a star mark."

Kagome's eyebrow ticked, and her lips twitched up into a stiff smile. "Well, when you have pokémon of your own, you can name them whatever you want," she gritted out.

"It is a little literal as well, don't you think?" Sesshoumaru asked teasingly, smirking when she tossed a glare his way.

"And you can keep your comments to yourself, Sesshoumaru!"

Mama Higurashi laughed indulgently. "Names are personal, you three. They can only be chosen by the trainer, and so the reasons behind a name can never be argued, as it is deeply meaningful for you."

"Thanks, Mama," Kagome chirped, smiling widely at Sesshoumaru, who merely rolled his eyes.

"By the way, Sesshoumaru, have you called your family, yet?"

He looked away from Mama Higurashi's perceptive gaze. "I have not."

"You should do that soon. No doubt your brother will be heading to bed soon, like Souta will be."

"Awww, Mama!" Souta cried. "It's only 9 o'clock!"

"Souta Higurashi," Mama addressed him firmly, "you will march up those stairs and get ready for bed right now."

"Yes, Mama," he murmured. "Good night Kagome, night Sesshou."

"Night Souta," his sister replied, blowing him a kiss. "We'll just disconnect now, Mama, so I'll talk to you again when we're in Gorintou, after I've beaten the first gym leader!"

"All right, Kagome," Mama Higurashi smiled. Grandpa Higurashi said good bye with an incline of his head, his expression displaying his continued worry.

"Sleep well," Sesshoumaru said, ending the call. He immediately turned to Kagome. "Shall we go see the Police Department now?"

Kagome propped her head on her fist, smiling good-naturedly. "Don't you think you should call Inuyasha and your stepmom first?"

Sesshoumaru's lips twisted in thought. He glanced at the video call platform, knowing Kagome wouldn't back down. He slumped slightly, pressing the dial button. "I will call now," he complied.

"Good," Kagome praised him, rubbing his shoulder. "While you do that, I'll take our bags to our room on the second floor."

"Thank you," he muttered, knowing that she was doing that to give him privacy, but silently wishing she would stay, if only to ease the coming conversation. He sighed as she left, typing in the number for his home in Edo.

The phone picked up almost immediately on the other end, and the relieved face of his stepmother and brother appeared on the screen. The genuine happiness on Izayoi's face made him relax slightly, and he nodded in greeting.

"Inuyasha. Izayoi."

"Sesshoumaru, I'm so glad you called," she murmured, gaze soft. "How goes your journey?"

"It goes well," he replied. "Kagome and I have each caught a pokémon already."

"Really?" Inuyasha gasped, little hands pressing against the table as he levered himself up. "What did you catch?"

"A Pidgey," he smirked, unable to prevent Inuyasha's blatant hero worship from lifting his spirits. "I named him Tori."

"When he's a Pidgeot, you'll be able to fly on him!" Inuyasha enthused gleefully, bouncing slightly. "Will you take me for a ride when you get back, Sesshou?"

"Of course," he agreed, lightly lifting his hand to touch the bottom of the screen. "We can fly over to visit Souta."

"Oooooh, he'd be so jealous!" Inuyasha gloated, laughing.

Izayoi smiled indulgently, lightly stroking her son's hair. "So Sesshoumaru, why was your arrival in Musashi delayed?" she asked.

Sesshoumaru hesitated slightly, frowning. "Since Kagome and I had pokéballs early, thanks to the check point officer, we decided to stay in the forest an extra day, in order to catch pokémon."

"And what pokémon has Kagome caught?"

"A Rattata. She has named him Hoshi."

"Are you going to Gorintou tomorrow, Sessho?" Inuyasha questioned.

"Yes, we will leave immediately after breakfast. If all goes well, we will make it in time to check out the gym and its leader."

Silence descended, and Inuyasha yawned as quietly as possible. Izayoi immediately tweaked one of his ears, pulling gently on the lobe. "I think its time for bed, mister," she observed, pressing a kiss to his round cheek.

"Okay Mama," he murmured. He turned sleepy eyes toward Sesshoumaru. "G'night Sesshou. I love you."

"Good night Inuyasha," he answered. He watched as Inuyasha and Izayoi exchanged kisses and good night wishes, growing uncomfortable by the harmony between them. Soon Inuyasha left, up the stairs to get ready and go to bed. Izayoi watched him leave, only turning her attention back to Sesshoumaru once her youngest son was gone.

"Did Professor Higurashi tell you the Bulbasaur was stolen?" she asked.

"He did not have to," Sesshoumaru admitted. "I battled the boy who stole him."

"You did?" she gasped.

"I did not know he was stolen at the time," he gritted out defensively. "Else I would have stopped him from simply leaving after our battle."

"I was not accusing you of anything, Sesshoumaru," Izayoi soothed. "I am merely surprised. I do not know what a pokémon thief would do, but I did not think challenging other trainers would be at the top of their list."

"I understand."

An awkward pause fell, where Sesshoumaru looked away from the screen. Izayoi's gaze became sad, and she began playing with the ring on her left hand.

"Sesshoumaru, I know you do not like me," she started. She held up a hand when Sesshoumaru seemed ready to interrupt her. "Please, Sesshoumaru, let me finish. Ever since your mother died, you have been on your own."

"Your father was wrong to bury himself in his work with the Elite Four," she acknowledged, "and to then see him act more like a father-figure to Inuyasha must be painful, but your father is trying to fix things in the only way he can think to. I just hope you understand that I love you as much as I love Inuyasha."

"You are not my mother, Izayoi," he answered calmly. He ignored as her face fell, forging on stubbornly. "I appreciate what you have done for my father, though."

Izayoi's head tipped in curiosity, and her eyes began to shine with tears as her stepson continued.

"Ever since mother died, he has not been happy. And I…was a reminder of that," he admitted, unaware that his emotions were on clear display – the only thing keeping Izayoi silent. "So yes, he buried himself in his work, and rarely came home – when he did come home, he avoided me as much as could be excused. It would not be wrong to say that Kagome's parents were more like family for me growing up than my own father was."

"But you have made him happy again," Sesshoumaru told her. "And he is showing Inuyasha the attention he deserves – as much as he can. With you, he has a new family."

"You are still his son, Sesshoumaru," she butted in, feeling desperate to make sure he understood that.

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "In name, perhaps. I only wish to surpass him now, by defeating him in battle. Only then will he see me as myself, and not as a reminder of my mother."

"That's not true, Sesshoumaru," Izayoi denied. "He loves you – but after all that has happened, he does not know how to reconnect with you."

"I have to go, Izayoi," Sesshoumaru said, looking away. "I will call again when I am in Gorintou."

His stepmom deflated where she sat, smiling through her sadness. "We look forward to your call, Sesshoumaru."

He nodded in acknowledgement, hand hovering on the end call button. "Until then, Izayoi."

"Until then, Sesshoumaru. I love you."

"Hn." He pressed the button, and her face disappeared as the screen turned black. Clenching his hand, Sesshoumaru leaned forward, resting his forehead on his fist and taking in a shuddering breath.

* * *

><p>"Do you think the Police Department will still be open?" Kagome asked, glancing at her watch. "It's already after ten."<p>

"The Police Department is open all day and night," Sesshoumaru replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, right," she laughed nervously, fiddling with her ponytail. "I'd forgotten – after all, we don't have one in Edo."

"Kagome, do not be anxious," he instructed, "you are not the criminal – Naraku is."

"I know," she sighed, shoulders slumping, "but we let him get away. Even if we didn't know at the time what he had done, we should have. The fact that he had no pokédex or trainer card, and yet he had the Bulbasaur, was a dead give away."

"There was no reason for us to suspect anything," he told her firmly, eyes focused on his shoes. Even as he denied their guilt for her sake, Sesshoumaru couldn't help the heavy feeling of responsibility resting on his shoulders. She was absolutely right, they should have realized right away that something was wrong, but he had allowed the other boy to goad him into an illegal battle. He doubted that he would get into much trouble for it, but the fact that he had participated in it angered him all the same.

He was not that type of trainer. It would not happen again.

"Sesshoumaru, do you think we'll get in trouble for battling him?"

At the question he glanced over to her, and shook his head. "It is unlikely, and if they were to punish one of us, it would be me – you did not battle him."

"Oh no, if you get in trouble, then I'll take punishment too!" she retorted firmly. "We're in this together, Sesshoumaru – we're partners."

"Why should that mean anything," he scoffed, turning away.

Kagome gaped at him, flushing red with agitation. "Sesshoumaru Taisho, you are my friend and will always be my friend! That means we stick together, through thick and thin."

"Hn," he grunted, frowning.

She seemed ready to snap at him, but sighed instead, lightly resting her hand on his tense arm. "Sesshoumaru, are you upset because you had to speak to Izayoi?"

"That has nothing to do with you," he muttered, pulling away.

Kagome frowned. "I'll let that go for now, Sesshoumaru, since we're at the station, and we have to file the report. But we'll have to talk about this eventually. I know you had problems with your dad after your mom's death, but that doesn't mean any relationship you have with others is the same."

Sesshoumaru exhaled slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose and clenching his eyes shut. "I know," he answered. "I'll be fine; talking with Izayoi is just a reminder that my father cares for her and Inuyasha more than his first son. I apologize for taking that out on you. I'll be fine by tomorrow; just…don't bring her up. I'll deal with it on my own."

Kagome searched his face for any hint of deceit, and relaxed when she saw none. "As long as you don't let it get to you, I'll let it be," she promised. "But I care about you, Sesshoumaru. You are my best friend – if something is bothering you, I want to know about it, so I can try to fix it."

"No one can fix this, Kagome. Only I can."

"At least let me help you," she murmured. "I want to be there for you."

"…All right," he said, giving in. "But if I ever ask you to back down, you must listen, okay?"

Kagome smiled, reaching out to take his hand. "Deal. Now let's go report that nasty Naraku, and then get some sleep. We're headed out to Gorintou, tomorrow – we'll have to be well rested if we want to make good time."


	5. Chapter 5

Pokémon Centres were large facilities, equipped to house travelling trainers and their pokémon. On the first floor would be the Centre itself, where nurses and healing pokémon resided. Also on the first floor were training rooms and the cafeteria. The second floor contained numerous rooms to accommodate trainers, usually for single night stays.

Kagome and Sesshoumaru stayed in one such room that night in Musashi as they waited for their pokémon to be fully restored. The Pokémon Centre of Musashi, however, was smaller than those found in larger cities, and so only consisted of the healing area and a few rooms on the second floor.

The next morning, Kagome and Sesshoumaru packed their belongings, powered their way through a quick breakfast, and then made their way back to the healing area of the Centre, where their pokémon were waiting.

"Good morning," a cheerful voice called out as they walked in.

"Good morning Nurse Koharu," Kagome replied, smiling at the young nurse. Her freckled nose crinkled cutely as she returned the grin from behind the counter.

"Will you be retrieving your pokémon?" she asked, already turning away to grab their tray.

"Yes, we're heading to Gorintou this morning," the Higurashi girl answered, leaning on the countertop. "We won't make it there in time to challenge the gym leader, but hopefully we'll be able to check the gym out before it closes."

Nurse Koharu soon returned with their pokéballs, her expression thoughtful. "I can't get you there any faster, but if you like, I can make a call to my cousin at the Pokémon Centre in Gorintou – she could go over to the gym and tell them to expect you."

"Could you really?" Kagome gasped. "That'd be wonderful! Wouldn't it be wonderful, Sesshoumaru?"

He pursed his lips, nodding slightly. "Hn."

"A man of few words, I see," Nurse Koharu giggled as they strapped on their pokéballs. "Well, your pokémon are once again fighting fit! Thank you for staying with us at the Musashi PokéCentre – please stay with us again if you are in the area," she said, cupping her hands in front of her uniform.

"We will. Thank you again!"

"Yes, thank you," Sesshoumaru nodded. Together they turned away and walked out of the Centre, which spanned across the back outskirts of the city, placing them immediately on the path to Gorintou.

They were about to walk down the path when they heard a voice shout their names. Turning, they saw a familiar woman walking towards them.

"It is the officer from last night," Sesshoumaru said, his brow furrowing. "What could she want?"

"I don't know," Kagome murmured, a little worried as the woman approached them. "Officer Nazuna," she greeted, smiling nervously. "Did we forget something last night?"

"Kagome, Sesshoumaru," the officer panted, stopping in front of them. She paused to bend over slightly, breathing deeply. "I'm glad I caught you. We cross-referenced the name and description you gave us last night, and the results came in last night. It seems Naraku is wanted for multiple charges of theft in other regions, in addition to charges of pokémon mistreatment."

"So this wasn't the first time," Kagome gasped.

"It would seem not," Officer Nazuna confirmed. "I wanted to make sure you knew that if you were to see him again, you should inform the local police force immediately. He's considered very dangerous."

"Of course," Sesshoumaru assured, casting Kagome a glance. She fidgeted beside him, her eyes too wide. "We'll remember to do that."

"Good," Officer Nazuna sighed. "Good. Well, I'll let you get on your journey then. Good bye."

"Good bye," he returned. As she left he turned to Kagome, lighting cupping her arm in his hand. "Kagome."

"Sesshoumaru, he could intend to seriously harm that Bulbasaur," she cried, grasping his forearms. "Office Nazuna just said he's done it before."

"Kagome, there is nothing we can do now," Sesshoumaru reminded her firmly. "It is in the hands of the police."

She wilted, slumping forward to lean her forehead against his chest. "I know. But you saw how he treated Bulbasaur during your battle – if he can be that cruel, what else is he capable of? I can't stand the thought…"

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat slightly, turning his head away as he lifted his free hand to pat her back. "Even if we could do something, we would not know where to look for him. He could be anywhere by now."

She sighed softly, nodding before she pulled away. "You're right, of course. I just wish…."

"Put it from your mind," he ordered, letting go of her. "We have done all we can."

"Okay," Kagome murmured. "I guess we should get going," she chuckled weakly. "We're losing daylight."

"You will feel better once it is not so fresh in your mind," he assured her.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "Yeah, I guess I just need time. Thanks, Sesshoumaru."

"Friends stick together," he quoted, smirking when she glanced up at him, surprise etched on her face. Sadness didn't suit Kagome – to hear her laugh never failed to raise his spirits.

"Let's go."

They quickly left Musashi, travelling down the road. A few strides away from the city the path suddenly forked, and a sign placed at the junction provided two directions.

_Gorintou – north – 50km  
>Shikon Plateau – west – 120km<em>

Kagome stared wistfully at the sign. "The Shikon Plateau," she breathed. "Eventually, we'll travel back to Musashi to heal our pokémon a final time, and then we'll go down that road to challenge the Elite Four."

"First we must defeat all the gym leaders," he reminded her, pleased when she rolled her eyes at him and smiled. All was well again if she could recognize his teasing.

"I know that, smart guy," she rejoined. "I'm just confident that we'll be able to do that."

"Well, certainly _I_ will be able to," he taunted, striding down the path to Gorintou.

"Oi!" she shouted, his comment pulling a surprised laugh from her as she chased after him. "I'll beat them too!"

"Of course," he soothed, waving his hand dismissively. "We should hurry up if you want to make true your words."

"I _will _make true my words!" she promised, smirking.

He slanted her a glance, lips twitching into a smile. "I look forward to it."

* * *

><p>The two stopped as they walked over a crest, pausing to simply take in their first view of Gorintou.<p>

"It's beautiful," Kagome breathed.

The city itself was in a large concave impression between mountain peaks. Rising up out of the center of the city was the tower Gorintou was named for. As the stories about the tower described, it was made out of an Onix's body. When it was alive, the Onix had been unnaturally large, being a total of 30m in length. In death it curled around itself over the grave of its saviour, resting in five tiers and topping off 10m above the ground.

The city of Gorintou spread out around the tower in a circular pattern – directly beside it was Gorintou gym. Nearby were the Gorintou Laboratories, which were attached to the Pokémon Centre.

The southern half of the city was dedicated to a large market, where food, clothing, posters, rugs, and anything else you might possibly need could be bought. Coming from Musashi as they were, Sesshoumaru and Kagome would have to walk through the market to get to the centre of the city.

Surrounding Gorintou were mountains, said to be home to every kind of rock pokémon in Shikon. The western side of Gorintou was clearly discernable as a residential area, with some homes built directly into the mountainside.

"How much money do you have?" Sesshoumaru asked suddenly, his eyes riveted on the market.

"Umm, after last night, I'd say about…10,000₱," Kagome replied after checking her coin purse. "Why?"

"It would be wise to purchase food while we are here," he answered, fingering the bills in his wallet contemplatively. "Unlike when we travelled here, there is no city between Gorintou and Taijiya, and the distance is nearly twice as long, as we must travel through the mountains."

"We should buy some PokéBits, too," she suggested, patting her pokéballs. "Onsen, Hoshi, Mizu, and Tori need to eat too."

"That can be done as we are leaving, though. For now, let's get down to the gym." Sesshoumaru lightly flicked his bangs out of his eyes, orbs glinting excitedly. "I want to have a leg up before we battle the leader tomorrow."

Kagome followed him down the path leading into the city, her eyes trying to take in everything at once. "Nurse Koharu did say her cousin would let them know we'd be coming. Maybe someone will be waiting for us?"

Soon the sounds of the marketplace surrounded them. The sun was currently setting behind one of the mountain ridges, signalling the end of the day. Around them vendors were packing up their wares and closing shop, heading home to their families for late dinners.

A few minutes later they were approaching the gym. As they got closer, a short, portly man waddled out to greet them, his round face smiling. The man's twinkling eyes were surrounding by dark rings.

"Greetings!" he called out in a high, nasally voice. "And welcome to Gorintou Gym! My name is Hachi, assistant to the leader of this gym."

"Mr. Hachi," Sesshoumaru nodded in reply. "I am Sesshoumaru, and this is my partner, Kagome."

"Hello," Kagome greeted, smiling.

"Nurse Koharu told me to expect you," Hachi confessed. Twisting his body slightly, he gestured behind him the double doors of the building. "Said you two wanted to have a glance around the gym before challenging the leader tomorrow."

"Yeah, that'd be great," Kagome chirped.

"Excellent, excellent!" Hachi approved. "Then if you'll follow me, I'll lead you to the challenge room."

Turning around, the squat man led the way into the gym. Kagome and Sesshoumaru followed a few steps behind, taking in everything they saw.

Keeping an eye on the older man in front of the, Kagome inconspicuously leaned towards Sesshoumaru. "Did he say he spoke to Nurse Koharu?" she whispered to him.

"He did," Sesshoumaru confirmed, equally quiet.

"But Nurse Koharu said she'd get her cousin to speak to the gym," she reminded him.

Sesshoumaru shrugged, uncaring. "Perhaps she was able to speak to him personally."

"Yeah, yeah I guess that's what must have happened," Kagome agreed.

"So this is the room where the leader will be," Hachi loudly told them, making them jolt slightly at being caught whispering to each other. He smiled indulgently.

"What is the gym leader's name?" Sesshoumaru asked of him. "I am aware the last gym leader, Michio, died recently, and that the current leader is his son?"

"Yes," Hachi confirmed sadly, "Our last leader died about a month ago, and his son was chosen to replace him a few days afterward. He is Miroku."

"Miroku?" Kagome gasped loudly, surprising Sesshoumaru. "As in, Miroku Watanabe?"

"You have heard of the young master," Hachi noted, pleased. "He will be most honoured to know this."

"How do you know him?" Sesshoumaru asked, ugly, unnamed emotions nearly choking him.

"Every girl in Shikon knows who Miroku Watanabe is!" Kagome told him, eyes alight with girlish infatuation. "He only carries a Master rank in every pokémon contest in Shikon! He's legendary for his skills in raising pokémon for competition."

"Hn," he grunted, perturbed by her enthusiasm.

"Is he really Gorintou's gym leader now?" she asked of Hachi.

"He is indeed, Miss Kagome," the assistant replied, chuckling.

"Sesshoumaru, this is amazing!" she said gleefully, bouncing. "I'm going to meet Miroku Watanabe!"

"Hn," he repeated balefully, eyes narrowing. "For such a _famous_ trainer to take on the position of gym leader, it is strange that it was not publicized."

"Master Miroku didn't want the news to be broadcasted," Hachi answer sorrowfully. "His father had just passed, and he didn't want his reputation to bring unwanted attention to his family."

"Of course," Kagome cooed. "We understand."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "Hn."

"It is getting late," Hachi told them, glancing out one of the windows. "It would be wise for you to head to the Pokémon Centre for the night."

"Very well," Sesshoumaru agreed, steering Kagome out.

"The gym opens in the morning at ten o'clock!" Hachi called out to them.

"Thank you!" Kagome called back, waving to him. "We'll be back then!"

* * *

><p>The next morning found Kagome and Sesshoumaru standing outside the gym doors promptly at ten o'clock. "I'm so nervous," Kagome confessed breathlessly.<p>

Sesshoumaru patted her back slightly, gaze kind. "You'll do fine. He is only the first gym leader – easiest of the eight."

"What?" she asked, puzzled as she looked up at him. Her confusion cleared after a minute, and she giggled. "Oh, I'm not nervous about that! It's because I'm going to meet Miroku Watanabe!"

"Ah," Sesshoumaru said, frowning. "Would you like to challenge him first?"

"Uhh, no," she decided, "you go first. I'll wait and just…prepare myself."

"Right," he sneered, "then I'll be back momentarily."

Leaving her in front of the doors Sesshoumaru swept into the gym, nodding at Hachi, who was standing before the entrance leading to the challenging room.

"Hello again, Hachi," he greeted.

"Good morning, Mr. Sesshoumaru," Hachi welcomed, smiling. "Here to challenge Master Miroku, are you?"

"Yes," Sesshoumaru smirked confidently.

"Then I must ask you, first, to battle me," the older man said seriously, pulling out a pokéball. "If you wouldn't mind procuring your trainer card and pokédex, we can begin."

"Very well." Dropping his back, Sesshoumaru reached into the pocket and removed the requested items.

"Thank you," Hachi murmured, taking them from Sesshoumaru. He glanced over both before sliding the trainer card into the pokédex and handing it back. "I'm sure you know, but when you put your trainer card in your pokédex, it will record the results of your battles onto the chip placed in the card."

"Yes, I am aware," Sesshoumaru intoned. He picked up one of his pokéballs, twirling it between his fingers before pressing the latch, feeling it grow to full size in his palm. "Shall we get this battle over with?"

"Eager to face my Master, are you?" Hachi chuckled. "It won't be easy to get through me."

"I doubt that very much," Sesshoumaru smirked.

"Let's see how you fair against my Diglett!" the other shouted, throwing his pokéball. The Diglett appeared and immediately burrowed into the ground, reappearing so that only its head stuck out of its tunnel.

"_Bzzt. Diglett, the small mole pokémon. Its skin is very thin. If it is exposed to light, its blood heats up, causing it to grow weak."_

"Hn," Sesshoumaru snorted. "Child's play." He threw Mizu's ball. "Mizu, use bubble," he commanded as soon as Squirtle appeared.

Diglett was immediately hit by her bubble attack, the orbs bursting upon its skin and causing it to cry out in pain.

Sesshoumaru smirked. "Mizu, finish it off with tackle."

"Diglett, use growl!" Hachi ordered desperately. Before Diglet could do that, however, Mizu impacted with it. They tumbled together over the ground, sliding to rest just in front of Hachi.

"Squirt," Mizu groaned, rolling off of the prone Diglett. She stood slowly, backing up slightly so she could lightly touch his face.

"Well done, Mr. Sesshoumaru," Hachi congratulated, recalling his Diglett. "You may proceed to Master Miroku."

Sesshoumaru inclined his head and walked passed him into the next room, Mizu toddling after him. As soon as they entered the room the doors closed behind them with a resounding slam.

"Welcome, trainer," a deep voice spoke. "Prepare yourself…for my team of elite pokémon."

* * *

><p>Kagome jumped up from her seated position in front of the gym when Sesshoumaru reappeared. "So?" she asked. "Did you do it? Did you beat him?"<p>

"Of course," Sesshoumaru sniffed, brandishing his badge.

Kagome's eyebrow rose slowly, her smile incredulous. "You know, you'd think that after all the years we've been friends, I'd be used to your gargantuan ego."

His cocky expression was immediately replaced with a lock of calm indifference, and Kagome had to laugh. "I'm teasing. Well, I guess it's my turn now," she said, dusting herself off and standing.

"I'll be back in a jiffy."

* * *

><p>Kagome felt her heartbeat quicken as she entered the challenge room. Defeating Hachi had been laughably easy, and had done nothing to take the edge off her adrenalin. The thought of seeing teen heartthrob Miroku Watanabe was simply too much to think about.<p>

She wondered what kind of trainer he was.

"Welcome, trainer," a silky voice murmured. Kagome gasped softly, the sound of his voice amazing to her ears. "Prepare yourself…for my team of elite pokémon."

From out of the shadows he stepped, his inky black hair tied into a short pony-tail and his lips pulled up into a sexy smile. "Well, you're a sight more attractive than the last trainer," he murmured. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Miroku Watanabe, leader of the Gorintou Gym. And you are…?"

"Kagome," she answered quickly, blushing. "Kagome Higurashi."

"Lovely Kagome," Miroku smiled, stepping up to his side of the battle arena. "Are you ready for me?" he purred.

"More than ready," she breathed, taking up her position opposite him.

"Good. Then Geodude, I choose you!"

"_Bzzt. Geodude, the rubble rock pokémon. Commonly found near mountain trails, etc. If you step on one by accident, it gets angry."_

"Right," Kagome murmured, pulling out her pokéball. "Here goes nothing. Go, Hoshi!"

Her Rattata appeared in a low crouch, eyes immediately focussing on the enemy Geodude. He squeaked loudly, little paws flexing, ready to charge.

"Hoshi, use tail whip!" she shouted.

He immediately leapt forward, falling atop Geodude and slapping it with his tail. Geodude winced and reached up with his hands, grasping Hoshi firmly around the middle. Hoshi squeaked in surprise and pain as he was roughly thrown aside, landing heavily on his side.

Miroku smirked. "Geodude, use tackle."

Placing his hands firmly on the ground, Geodude pushed off with all his strength, propelling himself towards Hoshi, who was struggling to stand. The Rattata cried out as Geodude impacted with his body, the firm rock of its body making the attack all the worse.

"Oh no, Hoshi!" Kagome shouted. "Return!" Hoshi did so with a tired sigh, disappearing in a flash of light.

"Okay, c'mon Onsen," she murmured, pressing her lips to his pokéball. "I'm depending on you."

Throwing the ball, Onsen appeared before Geodude. He growled, sensing his mistress' unease.

"Geodude, use tackle!" Miroku repeated. Geodude threw himself at Onsen, soaring head first through the air.

"Onsen, use scratch!" Kagome commanded.

As Geodude drew closer Onsen caught him in his hand, preventing the attack from completely damaging him. Wincing slightly, Onsen scrabbled at Geodude's rocky exterior, breaking off chunks of rock.

"Grahh," Geodude cried, releasing what hold he had on Charmander.

Miroku scowled, pulling out his pokéball. "Geodude, return! Onix, finish them off!"

Kagome's eyes widened as the previously wide open space of the room was filled with a 10m long Onix, its long body coiling around the now visibly shaking Onsen.

"_Bzzt. Onix, the rock snake pokémon. As it grows, the stone portions of its body harden to become similar to a diamond, but coloured black."_

"Onsen, use ember," she tried desperately.

"Tsk, tsk, Lovely Kagome," Miroku smirked. "Fire has no effect against my rock pokémon.

"Onix…use bind."

"Char!" Onsen shouted as Onix's long tail tightened around him, dragging and tucking him in against the long line of rocks. He was soon squished between them. He frantically spit fire on Onix, his claws scratching at the hot rocks in the hopes of doing some damage, but Onix just squeezed him tighter in warning.

"Give up, Lovely Kagome. You cannot win."

Kagome ignored him, staring up at where Onsen was held tightly in Onix's grasp. He continued to struggle in the hard hold, shouting in pain as Onix's grip tightened further. Wincing, she had to look away, already regretting the decision she had to make.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later found Kagome walking back outside, her mind strangely blank as she watched Sesshoumaru stand up, gaze expectant.<p>

"Well?" he asked. "How did you do?"

"I…lost," she whispered brokenly.


	6. Chapter 6

Kagome trudged behind Sesshoumaru as they returned to the Pokémon Centre, her thoughts in turmoil.

She had been so elated to be meeting Miroku that she had forgotten her true purpose in travelling to Gorintou – to defeat him and get the Gorintou Badge. It wouldn't have changed much of what she had done, but she might have put a bit more of her focus into the battle. If she had, she would have realized sooner that she stood no chance against the gym leader.

Miroku was right when he said she could not win – while he used all kinds of pokémon in competitions, his gym specialized in rock and ground pokémon. It only made sense that he would keep that tradition as the new gym leader.

If she had thought about it for just a minute, she would have recalled that fire and normal types had little to no affect against ground and rock type pokémon.

If she wanted to defeat him, she would need a water, grass, or fighting pokémon.

Without a fishing rod, she could not yet hope to catch a water pokémon; a grass pokémon could be a viable option, but her best chances of getting a high level one were in Bone Eater's Forest, a full two days journey away. And getting a fighting pokémon would mean venturing into one of the surrounding cave systems.

"If only there was an easier way," she muttered to herself, frowning.

Hearing the statement, Sesshoumaru turned slightly to face her, concerned despite himself. It was Kagome's first great loss – surely there would be more to come, for both of them, but the first is always the most difficult to handle. And in Kagome's case, she was defeated under obvious circumstances – while it was not impossible for her to have beaten Miroku with a type disadvantage, it was far more difficult than he had had.

"You will try again," he said, drawing her attention. "And you will defeat him."

Kagome smiled wanly, touched. "Thanks, Sesshoumaru. I definitely don't want to lose again, but that means I'll need the type advantage. It would simply take too long to train Onsen and Hoshi to a level that they could defeat Onix."

Sesshoumaru nodded in understanding. "Then we will have to go back and find the pokémon you require."

"You'll come with me?" she asked, surprised. "But you have your badge – you could continue to the next city if you wanted."

The Taisho frowned, brow knitting. "Why would I do that? We are partners."

Kagome felt her heart swell, and her steps recovered their cheerful bounce as she walked beside him. "You're right, forgive my lapse," she giggled.

Sesshoumaru snorted, turning his head away. "Should I? That you think I would leave you behind is most insulting."

"I know, I'm sorry," she pouted. "I know you'd never say or do anything to suggest you don't want to travel with me."

Her phrasing caused him to remember back to a few days ago when he had told her grandfather the opposite and felt ashamed of his past words. Now that he had the opportunity, as Kagome said, to justly leave her behind and continue, Sesshoumaru realized he did not want to travel without her. Being alone was not bothersome, but it meant being without Kagome, and that he could not endure.

She was his best friend – to be without her would be torture.

"Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked at his sudden silence, tilting forward so she could look up into his down turned face. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head, willing the thoughts away. "Yes, I am fine."

"I thought I was the one that lost today," she tried to tease, smile wry. "You looked really sad for a minute there."

"It is nothing to worry about," he promised. _Not anymore, because I will not leave Kagome for anything._

"Okay," she accepted, since he seemed to have recovered. They turned a corner, the doors to the Pokémon Centre appearing before them.

"Nurse Koharu's cousin should be in today," Kagome commented thoughtfully. "We got in too late last night for her to have still been up, but its only just lunchtime now. We should find her and say hi."

"If you insist," Sesshoumaru sighed. He opened the front doors for them, gesturing for Kagome to precede him. They were hit by multiple shouts as soon as they entered. Freezing in place, they observed as nurses rushed around, pushing carts with injured pokémon on them and their trainers following after.

"What's going on?" Kagome asked breathlessly, staring as a wounded Pikachu was rolled passed them.

Sesshoumaru scanned the sea of people and spotted a nurse that seemed unencumbered. "Let us ask that nurse," he suggested. "And get our pokémon healed as well."

"Okay," Kagome agreed.

"Excuse me?" she asked as they approached the brunette nurse, her back to them. "I was wondering if you could…Nurse Koharu?"

The nurse turned around at the sound of her name, her smile tight and worried. "Yes, hello. I'm sorry, but we're rushed off our feet at the moment, so if you could just—"

"Do you not remember us?" Sesshoumaru asked, equally surprised to see the Musashi nurse there.

"Should I?" Nurse Koharu asked, scanning their faces. "We get a lot of trainers coming through here – especially since Shikon was opened to other region's trainers, so I'm sorry if I don't remember speaking with you."

"But we saw you two days ago in Musashi," Kagome insisted. "You said you'd call your cousin here to speak to the gym leader for us."

"My cousin?" the woman gasped. She laughed softly as understanding dawned, the tense lines in her face relaxing. "Goodness, you must be talking about Aiko! She works at the Musashi Centre. Koharu is our family name."

Sesshoumaru's lips pulled into an uncertain moue. "The resemblance between you two is uncanny," he confessed hesitantly.

"Thank you for saying so," Nurse Koharu smiled. "Our mothers are sisters. That may explain why we look so similar."

"Ah."

"Can you possibly heal our pokémon?" Kagome asked after a moment of silence.

"Of course," Nurse Koharu assured, "follow me."

She led them past the long line of trainers in front of the healing area. "Were your pokémon injured by the Mankey as well?" she asked of them, pushing open the door leading back to the Centre's machines.

"A Mankey? Is that what injured all these pokémon?" Kagome gasped, taking in all the injured pokémon. There must have been at least twenty trainers in the waiting area, each of their faces etched with fear and worry for their pokémon.

"Yes," the nurse replied, getting one of the machines ready. "A rogue Mankey was spotted early this morning along Route 2, between Gorintou and Musashi, where they are overloaded with injured pokémon as well."

"Does anyone know why it is attacking?" Sesshoumaru asked. "Mankey usually won't attack unless provoked, though it is rather easy to do so."

"The trainers in Musashi, who saw it first, say it stumbled out of Bone Eater's Forest yesterday morning, clearly agitated by something. It's been rampaging up and down the route since, seriously harming trainers and any pokémon that had out before escaping."

Kagome and Sesshoumaru both placed their pokéballs into the machine's tray as it whirred to life. They watched as Nurse Koharu pulled the lid down and turned it on, lights beginning to flash up and down the top.

"Before escaping? Does that mean Mankey didn't stick around to battle them?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"According to the trainers, no. It just appeared of a sudden, attacked them and left."

"Did anyone mention if the Mankey was alone?" Kagome asked curiously. Sesshoumaru shot her a contemplative look, his gaze penetrative and knowing as he stared at her, making Kagome fidget.

"As far as I am aware, it is," the nurse said. Behind her the machine dinged, and she lifted the lid, returning to them their pokéballs.

"I hope you don't mind, but I must rejoin the other nurses and aid in healing all the pokémon that remain," Nurse Koharu apologized, edging passed them.

"Of course," Kagome assented, making room for the nurse to get through. The Higurashi girl tapped her index finger against her lower lip, following automatically as Sesshoumaru led the way out of the Pokémon Centre.

Sesshoumaru waited until they were away from the ground of trainers and outside before he sighed, shaking his head. "You may as well tell me what you are plotting."

"Me? Plotting?" Kagome gasped in mock shock. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know that look in your eye," he answered, eyebrow quirking. "So? Spill."

Her lips pulled up into a satisfied smirk. "I'm going to catch that Mankey."

* * *

><p>"Mankey is my best bet to beating Miroku," she explained a few minutes later as they left town. "It would take too long to go all the way back to Bone Eater's Forest to search for a strong enough grass pokémon – the same goes for searching caves for a different fighting pokémon. This Mankey is the answer to my problem."<p>

"A rampaging Mankey will be difficult to catch," he reminded her. "When Mankey's are in a rage, they will attack anything."

"I wonder why it's rampaging," Kagome murmured. "The nurse said he came out of the forest already agitated – something must have spooked him, to leave the protection of the trees, and to get in such a state."

"Maybe it was another pokémon," Sesshoumaru suggested idly. "Disputes over territory happen often enough, especially among groups of Mankey and Primeapes."

Around them the environment began to change as they left the craggy slopes of the mountains and re-entered the lowland valley surrounding Bone Eater's Forest. Trees began to crop up, along with other greenery that lack the ability to thrive on rocky knolls.

They immediately noticed the snapped branches and scuffed dirt along the side of the road. A clear path had been forcibly created between the closely situated trees. Along it was torn leaves and a thin path of blood droplets, disturbed by human footprints.

Kagome licked her lips nervously, her gaze catching Sesshoumaru's. "Whatever caused the Mankey to rampage, I doubt it was another pokémon. There's no way it would act out like this over territory – it certainly wouldn't go in the opposite direction of the forest."

Sesshoumaru nodded in agreement, tight lipped. "Judging by the direction of travel, Mankey is trying to get away from something." He frowned and redirection his gaze to the footprints. "Some_one_."

"You don't think…."

"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'd be willing to bet Mankey is trying to get away from a person. The trainers that it attacked were just in the way." Sesshoumaru knelt down and lightly touched one of the blood droplets, his eyes narrowing.

"We have to do something," Kagome decided, a hard edge to her voice. "Whatever happened to Mankey, it's not right, and he'll need healing."

"Then let's go," Sesshoumaru accepted, standing. "Judging by how fresh the blood is, we're not that far behind."

"What if whatever scared Mankey is still following it?" Kagome asked, stepping gingerly along the rough path the pokémon created.

"If it is a trainer, we will engage them in battle," Sesshoumaru muttered, anger making his blood boil at the further destruction that was revealed as they followed the path.

"And if it is Naraku?" Kagome's voice was small, hesitant. She knew Sesshoumaru was ashamed that he had allowed the other boy to trick him into an illegal fight – and one with a criminal at that. That shame could quickly turned to anger if he didn't accept that it wasn't his fault – seeing Naraku again could be the perfect catalyst to make him snap, especially if Mankey was severely injured.

Sesshoumaru hesitated, eyes flashing. "If it is Naraku, we will stop him from further harming the Mankey – by any means necessary."

* * *

><p>Mankey squealed as it was thrown aside, claw and bite marks bleeding freely, staining its fur red. The monkey pokémon slowly stood again, panting from exertion. It was clearly on the last legs, the only thing keeping it going sheer will and determination.<p>

Two growls filled the air, and a booted foot tapped agitatedly. "Persian, I grow tired of this. Clearly this Mankey is not as strong as Naraku thought her to be. Finish this."

The large cat pokémon crouched slightly, ready to pounce forward and sink her fangs into the soft skin of the Mankey, when two figures crashed through the trees, startling trainer and pokémon.

"Stop!" a high voice demanded.

Snarling, the trainer spun around and glared at the interruption, a young girl and boy. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded of them. Snapping her fingers, Persian responded to her original orders, clamping Mankey in between her teeth and pinning her down.

"_Bzzt. Persian, the classy cat pokémon. Although its fur has many admirers, it is tough to raise as a pet because of its fickle meanness."_

"I could ask the same of you," the girl yelled, reaching for the pokéballs at her hip and keeping her eyes locked on the Persian. "Release that Mankey, or else!"

"Or else what?" she sneered, propping on hand on her trim waist. "You'll challenge me?"

"I will," was the ground out response.

Persian relaxed her jaws in sync with her mistress as she stood straighter, red lips pulling up into an intrigued smirk. "Well," she murmured, "now that's the most interesting thing I've heard all day. I accept. My name is Kagura, Elite Officer of Team Miasma. And you are…?"

"Kagome," the girl answered shortly.

"Really," Kagura murmured. "Well, Kagome, let this be a reminder to you…to _both_ of you," she sneered, "to not battle strange trainers. Persian!"

The cat pokémon immediately released Mankey, loping forward to stand before her.

Kagome threw her pokéball, Hoshi appearing in an instant. He squeaked angrily, tail bristling as he stared down Persian.

"A mouse?" Kagura snorted, cocking one hip. "This is going to be pathetic."

"Don't underestimate me. Hoshi, use bite!"

"Persian, use fury swipes!"

Hoshi raced forward on swift paws. As he approached Persian snarled, lifting her front paw and swiping at the mouse quickly, but Hoshi was equally fast and dodged the blow, dashing between Persian's front paws. As Persian crouched down to spin and swipe at him again Rattata leapt atop her and sank his fangs into her neck.

Persian yowled in pain, her back arching as she tried to dislodge the critter.

In his position on her back Persian was unable to pull him off, so she began bucking wildly, twisting her head as much as possible to snap her fangs at him.

Kagura chewed her lip ferociously in her anger, clenching her hands into fists. "Persian, use bite!"

Arching her neck as far as possible, Persian managed to make a grab for Hoshi, pulling him off her back.

Kagome's breath caught as Hoshi was pulled off of Persian's back, held firmly in her jaws. "Hoshi, use tail whip!"

Immediately his tail lifted, slapping Persian roughly across the eyes. Persian yowled again, releasing Hoshi as his tail came up to slap her several more times around her eyes and sensitive nose.

"Hoshi, use tackle!"

Bending his legs as he landed, Hoshi sprung back up forcefully, the top of his head colliding with the bottom of Persian's jaw. A sickening crunch was heard and Persian fell over with a weak cry.

A flash of red light preceded Persian's disappearance into her ball. In Kagura's hand the pokéball shrank, and she tossed Kagome a glare as she fled the scene. "This isn't the last you'll see of me, _Kagome_. _Sesshoumaru_."

Kagome stayed still only long enough to make sure Kagura had truly left before she recalled Hoshi and took a few tentative steps towards the injured Mankey.

"_Bzzt. Mankey, the pig monkey pokémon. An agile pokémon that lives in trees. It angers easily and will not hesitate to attack anything."_

"Sesshoumaru," she whispered brokenly at seeing the state of the pokémon.

"I know," he ground out, kneeling down beside her. The Mankey's round body was severely lacerated, chunks of its fur ripped out to reveal fresh bruises. "She must have been injured while trying to escape from Persian. Nurse Koharu said that Mankey attacked the trainers and their pokémon but then immediately left. They were just in the way from what was the real problem."

"Poor Mankey," Kagome murmured. Reaching out, she ignored as the weakly panting Mankey flinched, lightly resting her hand on its head. "It's okay," she soothed, sliding off her backpack and reaching inside for the potion she yet had. "Everything is going to be okay now."

Whether Mankey could understand her words or not in its state of fear was questionable, but it allowed Kagome to get close enough to liberally spray its wounds with the potion. The liquid numbed the Mankey's pain, and soon its breathing evened out as it relaxed into a drugged sort of sleep.

Easing her hands under the Mankey's small body, Kagome lifted it up into her arms, letting her fingers tangle in what once would have been silky fur.

"We should start a rescue team," Kagome tried to joke, laughing sadly.

Sesshoumaru eyebrow rose in curiosity, leading the way back to the main route.

"Because we keep on saving pokémon in trouble," she explained, stepping carefully over debris on the ground.

He snorted, a smirk playing at his lips. "Two pokémon hardly seems enough to be a trend."

"Others have started things from less."

Sesshoumaru didn't reply, and Kagome cast her gaze back down to the wounded Mankey in her arms. "What did that woman want from this Mankey?" she wondered aloud. "It would have been easy enough for her to catch her, but she didn't. Instead, she continued to attack…"

"I cannot possibly hope to answer," he frowned, lifting a branch out of the way and holding it as Kagome passed him and stepped up onto the road.

"She mentioned that she's a member of something called Team Miasma," Kagome recalled. "Do you think we should report her when we get back to Gorintou?"

"Yes," he replied confidently. "Even discounting her connections, her actions were less than honourable towards Mankey. The local police will want to hear of it."

"Taking Mankey to the Pokémon Centre is the priority, though," Kagome asserted, her steps gentle but nonetheless swift as they made their way back to Gorintou. Her heart beat worriedly in her chest the longer she looked down at the pokémon in her arms, but she also couldn't look away.

She had come out to find Mankey and capture it herself – she couldn't very well do that now. Mankey needed her help more than anything else, and she felt guilty for it, but the only thing Kagome could think as she stared down at her best hope to beating Miroku was, _now what?_

* * *

><p>"Oh!" Nurse Koharu cried as they walked into the Centre that evening. She rushed towards them, grabbing an empty gurney as she did. "Is that…?"<p>

"The Mankey, yeah," Kagome admitted softly, conscious of the dozen set of eyes that had turned their way as they entered. Those further away, that could not see her burden were merely curious, but for the people that could see Mankey, comprehension slowly dawned, and they began whispering furiously among each other.

"That's…!"

"Why would they…!"

"What's that Mankey doing here?" one particularly brave trainer snarled, blocking their way as Mankey was placed on the gurney.

"Sir, please move," Nurse Koharu commanded firmly, eyes flashing dangerously. "All injured pokémon are welcome in my Centre."

"Well you should make an exception with this one!" the youth insistently barked. "It attacked all of the pokémon you've been treating today! If it was injured in the process…"

"How dare you," Kagome gasped, insulted and angry. "Look at the state of this Mankey – these injuries aren't just from briefly attacking you and then fleeing! She was being chased by another trainer – one that didn't stop at simply battling her, but was actively trying to injure her!"

"And how do you know that?" the trainer sneered.

"Because we saw the one that did this," Sesshoumaru snarled at the other boy.

"I battled her," Kagome declared harshly. "She seemed intent on testing Mankey, and Mankey must have failed, because she didn't plan on stopping until Mankey was dead."

Around them a deathly silence fell, and their accuser backed down, stunned.

"I…I didn't…"

"Yeah, well," Kagome ground out, "next time you should get all your facts before you lay in on someone."

Sesshoumaru placed a calming hand on her shoulder, squeezing slightly. "It is done, Kagome. We must focus our attentions on Mankey for now."

"I will take Mankey to be healed," Nurse Koharu interjected, pushing on the gurney. The now silent trainer backed away, prompting the other surrounding trainers to part for them, forming a path towards the machines.

Kagome and Sesshoumaru followed her, but were stopped at the set of doors behind the front counter. "I'm sorry," the nurse said, holding up a hand in a common gesture to stop, "but you aren't allowed back here. You'll have to wait out here until Mankey is healed."

Kagome bit her lip uncertainly, looking to Sesshoumaru for guidance in this.

He stepped in immediately, taking her arm in his hand. "We have other matters to attend to," he told the nurse. "If someone could tell us when Mankey is healed…?"

"Of course," Nurse Koharu assured him. "What are your names? I will have someone come find you when she is done healing."

"Sesshoumaru and Kagome," he answered. "We will either be at the Police Station, or in our room here."

"All right. Someone will come find you."

* * *

><p>"Let me make sure I'm getting this right," the male officer, who had introduced himself as Nobunaga, said sometime later, his hand gripping his pen tightly. "You were searching for the Mankey that is responsible for today's influx of injured pokémon and trainers, and in finding her, encountered a woman battling it."<p>

"I wouldn't call it battling," Kagome denied, tone dark.

"Then what would you call it?" Officer Nobunaga asked, rubbing his temple tiredly.

"Cruelty," Sesshoumaru answered for her when no words came to mind. "This Kagura wasn't going to stop until Mankey was dead."

"Right," the officer muttered, jotting down quick notes. "You also mentioned that she introduced herself as 'Kagura'. What else did she say?"

"She said that she was the Elite Officer to something called Team Miasma," Kagome repeated wearily, sighing softly. They had gone over this twice already. She didn't understand why it needed so much repeating.

"Did she mention anything else?" he asked intently. "Anything that strikes you as odd now – even just her way of wording things…"

"No," Kagome said, shaking her head. "I told her to stop, and she asked if I would challenge her to a battle if she refused. I said yes, and she accepted the challenge. She said…"

_Let this be a _reminder_ to you, to not battle strange trainers._

Kagome's eyes widened suddenly. "She said that this would be a reminder to us to not battle strangers. Sesshoumaru," she breathed, turning to him as she remembered more of the encounter. "She knew your name!"

"Naraku," he hissed.

"What? What does that all mean?" the officer asked.

"I battled a stranger a few days ago who called himself Naraku," Sesshoumaru explained. "He heard Kagome and I call each other by name, and then Kagura addressed me."

"So?"

"So I never told Kagura my name," he explained. "And yet she knew who I was."

"She must work with Naraku, or know him," Kagome concluded.

Nobunaga noted it all down, standing as he jotted the last of it into his notebook. "Right, we'll look into this. Thanks for coming in and reporting it."

Kagome and Sesshoumaru stood together, following the officer out of the interrogation room. "Will someone be able to get back to us on this?"

"Uhh, I'm not sure," the officer admitted. "Are you sticking around for a while?"

"As long as it takes me to defeat Miroku," Kagome sighed.

"Ahh, so you are following the gyms. In that case, you can check in at any Police Station along your route. They'll be able to put you in contact with us. If you hear or see anything else, report it," Nobunaga instructed them. "This isn't the first time a region has had to deal with criminals, and if it is happening in Shikon, we want to be on top of it."

"Very well," Sesshoumaru agreed.

They watched as the officer disappeared, and Kagome sighed, turning towards the exit.

"I guess we should go back to the Centre – there's nothing else we can do now except…hope."


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you Kagome and Sesshoumaru?"

Kagome looked up from where she and Sesshoumaru were sitting in the Centre's lounge, trying to do their own research on Team Miasma via the internet. So far, they had been unsuccessful in finding any information about them.

"Yes," Sesshoumaru answered, lightly pushing Kagome's legs off from where they rested on his.

"Nurse Koharu said you wanted to know when Mankey was fully healed," the youth – the boy who had confronted them earlier that day in the Centre – said. His expression was apologetic. "She's all right. Nurse Koharu said if you hadn't used your potion on her, Mankey wouldn't…wouldn't have made it," he choked out. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Kagome stood, and slowly reached out to take the boy's hand. He gratefully held onto it, fingers curling around hers. Looking at him now, a boy of really only 10 – as old as Souta and Inuyasha – Kagome felt guilty for having yelled at him.

"It's okay," she forgave. "I know you were still just scared for your pokémon."

"Susie is my best friend," he sniffed. "But she's still so little for a Caterpie, and Mankey just tore into her… I couldn't stop it…!"

"Shh," Kagome murmured when his shoulders began shaking. "I'm sure Susie doesn't blame you, and neither do I."

"Really?" he hiccupped, swiping at his eyes with a clenched fist.

"Really," she smiled. "Now c'mon. Take us to Mankey."

"Okay," he agreed. A tiny smile pulled at his lips. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Kagome answered as he walked away. Beside her Sesshoumaru stood up, joining her as they followed after the boy.

"You are very forgiving," Sesshoumaru commented, thinking about what he had said to Professor Higurashi in his lab. It seemed like ages ago, and he wondered if she were to ever find out, if she'd be able to forgive him as well.

"It wasn't his fault," Kagome repeated. "If anyone is to blame it is Kagura – he was just worried about his Caterpie."

"Hn," he agreed. "What do you plan to do with Mankey?"

"I don't understand," Kagome looked up at him, uncertain. "What do you mean, what do I plan to do?"

"Will you still catch it?" he elaborated.

Kagome frowned thoughtfully, looking down at her slowly clenching fists and forcing them to relax. "I'm not sure," she admitted finally. "I've kinda been thinking about it since we brought Mankey to the Centre, and…I think I have to let her go."

"But she is your best chance to beat Miroku," Sesshoumaru reminded her.

Her smile was tight with forced cheer and confidence as she directed her gaze back to him. "I know – I'll just figure out another way! Mankey's been through too much – she deserves to be allowed to go back home."

"So we're back to rooting through caves or Bone Eater's Forest, then," Sesshoumaru sighed, not entirely looking forward to either.

"Yep!" Kagome chirped, putting a bounce in her step. "Hopefully it won't put us too much behind – a week at most."

Sesshoumaru mock groaned, closing his eyes.

"Hey now!" Kagome laughed, nudging him roughly. "What happened to 'being partners' and 'sticking together'?"

"It still stands," Sesshoumaru assured her. "That doesn't mean I have to like it." He smirked when she huffed in agitation.

"Ah, Kagome, Sesshoumaru!" Nurse Koharu called out as they entered her office. "Thank you for bringing them to me, Haku."

The boy bowed and quickly left, but not before slanting Kagome another smile.

"The boy said Mankey was healed," Sesshoumaru stated. Nurse Koharu nodded, standing up and opening a side door in her office. As it opened an excited ball of white fur bounced in, looking around eagerly.

When Mankey caught sight of Kagome it squealed happily and leapt upon her, wrapping long arms and legs around her torso and squeezing.

"Oh!" Kagome gasped, shocked by the sudden hug. Her arms lifted up to curl around Mankey reflexively, then tighter as her brain caught up with what was happening.

She nuzzled her nose into Mankey's soft fur, and was rewarding with the pokémon's happy squealing.

When she tried to unwrap Mankey from around her Kagome found the limbs latched tight, and laughed breathlessly. Seeing her trouble, Nurse Koharu stepped forward and gently touched Mankey's shoulder.

"Mankey, you must release Kagome now," she told the pokémon sternly, but kindly.

The little monkey pokémon made a low, mournful sound in the back of its throat and clutched on ever tighter, shaking its head. Her heart tugging painfully, Kagome lightly combed her fingers through Mankey's fur.

"You must feel absolutely alone right now," Kagome murmured to her. Hearing her saviour speaking Mankey pulled away as little as possible to look up at her, large eyes blinking sorrowfully. "But you'll be home again soon, I promise."

Those large eyes widened in obvious fear before Mankey's head was once again pillowed on her chest, face hidden in her shirt. Mankey began squealing and squeaking in distress, clinging tighter to Kagome, if that were possible.

"I don't understand," Kagome muttered, looking between Nurse Koharu and Sesshoumaru. "I thought Mankey would _want_ to go home."

Sesshoumaru eyed the Mankey speculatively, lightly stroking his chin in thought. "Whatever happened in Bone Eater's Forest must be worse than we thought," he theorized.

"And you did save her," Nurse Koharu added. "Mankey must feel a deep attachment to you because of that."

"But…I was prepared to let Mankey go," Kagome whispered.

"Why must you?" the other woman asked, not unkindly. "Mankey obviously wishes to stay with you."

"Do you?" Kagome asked of the pokémon, tucking her chin down in order to see her better. "Do you wish to stay with me?"

Mankey squealed happily, bouncing lightly in Kagome's grasp.

Kagome glanced around somewhat helplessly. Sesshoumaru shrugged his acceptance, and she relaxed, holding Mankey closer.

Nurse Koharu smiled, and leaving the room, returned with a single pokéball. "Your other pokémon is healed now as well," she announced.

Kagome took the ball gratefully, cupping it in her palm. "Thank you, Nurse Koharu." Looking at the pokéball, a small laugh escaped her lips, and she gently placed Mankey on the ground, placing Hoshi's ball on her hip and detaching an empty one. "Get ready, Mankey," she announced, cocking her hip, "for I am going to catch you."

Mankey bounced excitedly, squealing. In mid-hop she was caught, the red light of the thrown pokéball drawing her within. As it stopped rocking Kagome picked it up, rubbing her thumb over the bright red shell.

"I wonder what I should name her," she murmured. A sudden memory from her childhood came to mind, and she cast Sesshoumaru a bittersweet glance. "How does Moko sound?"

His eyes softened slightly in remembrance. "After the fur stole my Mother owned. She used to let us play with it, no matter how much we got it dirty."

"Yeah," Kagome said. "We used to call it Moko-moko. Do you mind if I…?"

"No," he answered. "It would be a nice reminder."

"Well," she breathed, clipping Moko's ball to her belt, "I guess I can challenge Miroku again tomorrow morning."

"Why wait?" Nurse Koharu asked curiously. "You've at least an hour before Miroku will stop accepting challenges for the day. You could go over there now."

Kagome bit her lip, thinking it over. If she went now, and defeated him, they'd be able to travel for a full day tomorrow, rather than losing the morning while she battled Miroku. She was worried about Moko, though. She'd just recovered from a horrible experience. Would it not be wise to let her rest longer?

"If you are worried about Mankey," the older woman began, zeroing in on the source of Kagome's distress with unerring instinct, "you needn't be. Pokémon are more resilient than most believe – she will be eager to battle for you."

The Higurashi girl grinned. "Then I guess I better get going," she chirped. "Thank you again, Nurse Koharu."

"Of course, dear," she replied. "Go get yourself that badge."

"I will!" Kagome vowed. "C'mon Sesshoumaru!"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and bowed to the nurse, following Kagome from the Centre.

* * *

><p>"Ahhh," a deep voice purred as Kagome entered the Challenging Room, "returning so soon, Lovely Kagome? And with a cheering squad, I see." Miroku glanced at Sesshoumaru from his seat across the room, receiving a scowl for his jibe. The gym leader grinned wickedly.<p>

"I remember you – you fought me yesterday."

"Hn," Sesshoumaru grunted, smirking. "Yes, and defeated you with a single pokémon."

"So you did," Miroku acknowledged stiffly, smile firmly in place. "And now, Lovely Kagome," he said with relish as Sesshoumaru stiffened angrily, "you have come to challenge me again, have you not?"

"I have," she answered firmly, yesterday's eager infatuation faded with her determination to win the Gorintou badge. "And this time, I won't fail."

"Well," he murmured, standing. "I look forward to your attempt – but why don't we sweeten the deal?"

Kagome licked her lips nervously, brow furrowing in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Miroku flirted, casting Sesshoumaru a satisfied smirk, "if I win, you let me take you out to dinner."

Kagome blushed, her breath hitching slightly. "And if I win?"

His eyebrow rose, lips pulling up into a sexy leer. "You take me to dinner?"

She laughed despite herself, glancing uneasily at Sesshoumaru, whose jaw was tightly clenched. "I don't think so. I have plans."

"Ah, is he your boyfriend?"

Kagome hesitated, unable to hide the disappointment in her face. "No, we're friends."

"I see," Miroku breathed, and he did. His heart went out to the girl – he knew what unrequited love felt like all too well. "Well, Lovely Kagome, how about this? If I win, I take you to dinner – if you win, _he_ takes you to dinner."

Miroku glared at Sesshoumaru, and the younger boy shifted slightly under the obvious displeasure, but nodded.

"Kagome," he intoned, drawing his friend's attention. "Defeat him."

"But Sesshoumaru, he said…" she couldn't stop herself from blushing again, looking away.

"I know what he said."

Her eyes widened, heart filling with youthful hope. When she looked up, however, Sesshoumaru stood stiffly, his eyes focused on the wall and his jaw tight. Her heart fell as quickly as it had risen, and she sighed. For a minute, she had thought…

Reaching for her pokéball, Kagome froze her expression into one of intense concentration. "Let's fight."

"All right. Go, Geodude!"

Kagome smirked and threw her ball. "Let's do it, Moko!"

Mankey appeared in a flash, long arms held up in front of her chest.

Miroku clapped his hands together once, chuckling. "I see you got yourself a pokémon with a type advantage. Well done! But will it be enough?"

"More than," she vowed. "Moko, use karate chop!"

Miroku scowled. "Geodude, use defense curl!"

Geodude wrapped his arms around himself just in time, as Mankey charged, right arm raised. Moko brought it down with all her strength, and Geodude shouted in pain. As Moko raised her left arm Geodude opened his arms and caught hers, stopping her mid-swing.

Squealing angrily, Moko raised her free hand and brought it down on Geodude's unprotected side hard. He cried out, releasing Mankey and falling back.

"Moko, use furry swipes!"

Leaping atop the fallen Geodude, Moko lifted both hands and began clawing at his rocky hide, chipping off pieces of stone.

Miroku ground his teeth in frustration. "Geodude return! You give it a try, Onix!"

Moko leapt backwards as Onix appeared where she had just been standing, towering over her with a roar.

Kagome smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Give up, Miroku," she quoted him, and saw by his expression he remembered saying that to her. "You cannot win."

He sighed, shoulders slumping as he slid clenched hands into his pockets. "A gym leader never gives up. Defeat me fair and square, Lovely Kagome, and you will get your prize."

Behind her Sesshoumaru inhaled harshly through his nose, eyes closing tightly as unnamed emotions choked him. Kagome shot him a confused look, but nonetheless called out her order.

"Moko, use low kick."

Hanging his head in resignation, Miroku watched as Mankey dashed forward, leg swinging out at a low angle. The attack launched Onix into the air, until gravity pulled him back down. He lowed in pain as his immense body weight increased the damage of the fall a hundredfold, head coming to rest on the dirt ground as he fainted.

"Yes!" Kagome shouted, jumping in the air. "Moko, you did it!" She skipped out to her pokémon, who leapt up into her arms with a happy squeal.

"Well done, Lovely Kagome," Miroku praised, recalling his Onix. "You have more than earned this badge." Pulling his hand out of his pocket, he opened his fist to reveal the Gorintou gym badge.

It was round in shape, and had two trails of colour that spiralled around each other in a concentric circle of violet on black.

She took it, awe clear on her face as she held it in her palm.

"Now, I do believe," Miroku began, redrawing her attention, "that you have plans."

Kagome blinked, turning to look at Sesshoumaru. "Uhmm…"

"Yes, we do," he said, walking forward to take her arm in hand. Once she was in his grasp he began to lead her out in a hurried manner.

"Good bye," Miroku called out to them, lifting a hand in a wave.

Kagome struggled slightly in Sesshoumaru's hard grip, waving to Miroku in turn. "Bye!" she shouted.

Sesshoumaru growled slightly at her call, pulling her harder. As they exited the gym Kagome finally ripped her arm from his grasp, to which he spun around, glaring at her.

"What is wrong with you?" she demanded, rubbing her arm.

He ignored her question, lips tightening angrily. "You like him, don't you?"

"Who?" she asked, bewildered.

"Miroku," he grudgingly elaborated. "You like him."

"I don't even know him," she denied.

"But he is _Miroku Watanabe_," Sesshoumaru said bitterly. "And all the girls of Shikon know what that means."

Kagome glared, his accusations and tone beginning to get on her nerves. "And what _does_ that mean, Sesshoumaru?"

"You know," he insisted, those ugly, unnamed emotions making him clawing up in his throat and making him irrationally angry. "He asked you out to dinner!"

"He made a bet," she clarified angrily. "And he _lost_."

"And now I am to be your prize," he sneered. "After all, you won me – never mind how I feel."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, Sesshoumaru," Kagome told him, the beginnings of sadness chasing away her anger. "I already know how you feel about me, so let's just go back to the Centre."

Guilt replaced his anger in a heartbeat at the sight of her pain, and Sesshoumaru floundered for a moment, stuck between simply following her or apologizing.

In the end, the decision was made for him, as Kagome didn't wait, but instead left, headed back to the Pokémon Centre.

He had clearly made a mistake – he knew Kagome would never do anything to jeopardize their friendship, and certainly not on someone else's whim. What had possessed him, to make him strike out at her like that? Listening to Miroku flirt with her, and knowing already that she admired his accomplishments had made him…jealous, and that realization made Sesshoumaru hang his head in shame.

He may have denied it when his stepmother apologized for his father doting so on Inuyasha and not him, but she had been right – it did make him jealous, and he had allowed those ugly feelings to taint him so that he could never accept Izayoi and Inuyasha into his life the way they should have been. He had hoped that leaving on his journey would let him escape those feelings, and perhaps even resign himself to his stepmother and half-brother in peace, as he had never allowed himself to do in Inuyasha's ten years of life…and yet he found himself unable to escape his darker side in the face of Kagome's emotions.

Somehow, he had always known that she liked him as more than a friend – and in some ways, he thought he did too. But he didn't want that right now – didn't want the pain that his father had gone through in losing his mother, nor the jealousy he yet felt towards his stepmother. He didn't want his relationship with Kagome to be reduced to that, and so he had denied her and himself.

What he hadn't taken into account was how he might feel if another showed interest in her, and she in him.

While Kagome's admiration for Miroku didn't necessarily mean she had feelings for him, it meant she respected someone other than him – looked up to someone other than him. Combine that with Miroku's obvious attempts to flirt with her, and Sesshoumaru couldn't help the spike in his emotions, even if he didn't completely understand them. But he should have been able to control himself better. He had behaved worse than Inuyasha would when he didn't get his way, and had hurt Kagome's feelings in the process.

Pressing his lips together tightly, he spun on his heel to follow Kagome. He would apologize to her as soon as he caught up with her – there was no reason they should both confused and hurt.

He caught up to her as they would enter the Centre, and reached out to touch her shoulder. "Kagome," he tried quietly, voice rough.

Kagome froze in place but heeded his entreaty, stopping in front of the double doors. "You don't have to say anything, Sesshoumaru –"

"I'm sorry," he interrupted, ignoring as her tired resignation fell in shock. "I didn't mean to take my frustration out on you."

She turned around completely to face him, raising a hand to clasp the front of her shirt. "I don't understand why you were so upset, Sesshoumaru. Miroku was only joking."

Sesshoumaru's lips pulled up bitterly, his expression telling her she was naive. "I do not think so – he seemed to truly like you."

Kagome blushed slightly, embarrassed. Her lips turned down and her eyebrows drew together slightly. "Oh. Do you really think so?"

"You do not seem happy to hear that," he observed, confused. "I don't understand. I thought you liked him to?"

"I admire his skills with pokémon," she corrected, shaking her head. "But I don't _know_ him. How could I like someone I do not know?"

"So you do not like him," he repeated, and felt the weight of his jealously ease.

"Of course I don't," Kagome confirmed earnestly. "Sesshoumaru, the person I like is…is _you_," she told him, desperate for him to believe her. "You know I do, and that won't change any time soon, no matter what happens between or to us."

"Kagome…"

"Please Sesshoumaru," she begged. "At least give us a chance. You can't predict what will happen, and you'll never know unless you try."

"I'm worried how it will change us…change me," he confessed.

"Sesshoumaru," Kagome murmured, reaching out to take his hand. "Nothing has to change, except that we would be together differently."

He looked down at their clasped hands, uncertain, but…she was right. If he was going to feel this way, it seemed wrong to not give them a chance. Kagome was neither his mother nor his stepmother, and he was not his father.

His fingers tightened around hers as he looked into her eyes. In them he saw the truth of her feelings for him, and the fact that he could seriously wound her with a second rejection, and he realized that in trying to protect his self from pain, he was in fact experiencing it, and hurting Kagome as well.

"Okay," he agreed. The way Kagome's eyes lit up told him he was making the right decision, and continued. "Let us try."

She blushed becomingly, eyes looking away even as she smiled sweetly. "Should we…should we go to dinner?"

Sesshoumaru smirked, amused and relieved to see that so far, at least, things really haven't changed. Kagome was still herself, and he found that he enjoyed the way her cheeks reddened. "I suppose we should," he teased, "after all, you did win me."

Her smile stretched further. "In that case, you should treat me. I'm in the mood for pizza."

"I remember seeing a restaurant out by the markets," he offered, pulling her gently by their held hands in that direction. "Let us enjoy tonight – tomorrow, we leave for Taijiya."


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: I just want to make a note up here that I've lost some of my mojo in writing this story. I still plan to, but it will be slow going. This means updates will be every two weeks unless I have nothing prepared - then updates will be as the chapters are finished._

* * *

><p>"Fruit."<p>

"Check!"

"Dried food."

"Check!"

"PokéNibs."

"Check!"

"Water."

"Check!"

"Cooking supplies – pot, wooden spoon, and fire hanger."

"Triple check!"

"Hn," Sesshoumaru murmured, casting one last look around their room at the Centre. "That seems to be everything."

"Don't worry," Kagome assured him, shouldering her pack. "We aren't forgetting anything, I promise."

"It is best to always check," he asserted firmly, barely resisting the urge to take another quick turn around the room to make sure they'd packed everything. "We also will not be returning to Gorintou any time soon – if we forget something, it will have to remain here, because we do not have time to return for it."

"At this point, anything we forget isn't important enough to remember," Kagome muttered. "We're already two days behind because I had to battle Miroku a second time," she spoke up, "and I'd like to be out of the mountains by nightfall."

Sesshoumaru sighed and picked up his bag. "Then let us be off. We should be able to do that walking at a regular pace."

They walked east, climbing up out of the valley that held Gorintou within the mountains and made their way along the path towards the caves that littered the area – one of which would take them to Taijiya.

Though Taijiya was the second city on the run for the Shikon Plateau, it was said to be the place where pokémon training began.

A long time ago, there were a group of people called the Taijiya, who fought and killed pokémon as their means of survival. The pokémon they killed fed and clothed their people, until one day their chief's daughter found an injured Poliwag. In secret she tended to and fed the pokémon, until her father discovered what she'd been doing.

Her father was furious – pokémon were vicious beasts; their enemies. But rather than killing the Poliwag, as he would normally do, for the sake of his daughter, he let the pokémon go.

Some years later, their village was attacked by enormous amounts of Raichu – so many, in fact, that they were nearly overwhelmed. At the last moment, they were unexpectedly saved by a lone pokémon – a Poliwrath.

It defeated the Raichu, and when it was done, turned on the villagers. Weapons at hand, ready for the new battle the Taijiya believed they would have to face, they paused as the chief's daughter rushed forward breathlessly.

"Can it be you?" she gasped. The Poliwrath only stared at her, breathing heavily, hands clenching and unclenching. The look in its eyes told her everything she needed, though, and she rushed forward, a happy laugh bubbling up. "It is!"

She threw her arms around the Poliwrath, ignoring the stunned silence of the villagers that parted as her father came forward.

"Hira," he barked. "What is this nonsense?"

"Father," she entreated, "this Poliwrath – he is the Poliwag I saved so long ago – and he saved us today from the Raichu!"

"So he did," he acknowledged. "That hardly changes our situation – he is a pokémon."

"Father, it changes everything!" Hira denied hotly, throwing her arm out angrily. "This proves what I have been trying to tell you all along! Pokémon are not inherently evil!"

"Think about what you are saying," her father growled.

"No, you think!" she interrupted harshly. "Look around you at our people! Do you never think why pokémon do not attack the other villages, only ours? It is because we attack them first! To the pokémon, _we_ are evil!"

"I AM TRYING TO PROTECT OUR PEOPLE," he roared.

"A fine job you are doing of that," Hira intoned plainly.

He ground his teeth at her defiance. "Hira, stop this now, or I will be forced to exile you."

"Don't worry," she murmured, turning away. "I'm leaving anyway. I can't stand to live in a village that kills pokémon indiscriminately. Anyone else that feels the same may join me."

Her father paused, stunned betrayal on his face before it hardened with resolve. "Get out. You are no longer my daughter."

Without a word she began to walk away, the strong form of her Poliwrath following behind. The further they got from the crowd the more select few individuals began to fidget with unease, until finally one, two, three, then flocks of people followed after her.

In the end, at least half of the village had left with Hira, and together they started a new village, which they called Taijiya, in the hopes that they could bring new meaning to the word, and it is there that true pokémon training began.

In the contemporary age, Taijiya was still home to some of the most skilled pokémon trainers in all of Shikon, and boasted the best Pokémon Academy in all the regions, as well as one of Shikon's eight pokémon gyms, which made Taijiya Kagome's and Sesshoumaru's next stop on their journey to be Shikon Champions.

Just as they were approaching the caves leading out of the mountains surrounding Gorintou, from behind them they heard someone call out their names.

"Kagome! Sesshoumaru!"

"Miroku?" Kagome gasped, spinning on her heel. Sure enough, the figure of the Gorintou gym leader could be seen racing up the ridge, waving one of his hands in a clear request for them to wait.

Sesshoumaru frowned, stepping closer to Kagome but waiting nonetheless.

"Thank goodness I caught up with you," the gym leader gasped, bending over to grasp his knees and pant as he stopped in front of them.

"Is something wrong?" Kagome asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," he confirmed, straightening slowly. He grimaced, the knowledge he was about apart to impart obviously painful. "My gym pokémon have been stolen."

The two trainers jerked in surprise, the familiar tale making their eyes widen as they turned to look at each other.

"Stolen, you say…" Sesshoumaru intoned blankly.

"Yes," Miroku answered. "After one of the strangest battles I've ever had."

"What do you mean?"

"The boy I battled was just…cruel. He treated his pokémon like their only worth was to battle, and when it became apparent that he couldn't win, he pushed his pokémon on, as if to punish them for being weaker," Miroku recalled for them.

"Sesshoumaru," Kagome murmured, turning her back to Miroku so she could whisper to her companion. "That sounds a lot like Naraku."

"Hn," he agreed, bending down slightly to talk to her more easily. "It would seem he is interested in only strong pokémon – but now he has resorted to stealing a gym leader's pokémon."

"What in all Shikon could he be after?" Kagome wondered aloud. "If he hopes to collect strong pokémon, he may target the other gym leaders as well."

A thought struck Sesshoumaru, and he looked over his shoulder at Miroku, who was watching them curiously. "Was anything else stolen?"

"Yeah," Miroku admitted, "they stole a gym badge."

Sesshoumaru's lips pressed firmly together. "As I thought," he murmured.

"What?" Kagome asked softly of him.

"The only people with pokémon stronger than a gym leader are the Elite Four," he answered as softly. "But security around the Plateau is far more strict than that of gym leaders."

Kagome gasped, quickly realizing what he meant. "If he wants to take the pokémon of the Elite Four as well, he'll need badges to get into the Plateau."

Sesshoumaru nodded wordlessly, eyes grim.

"Then we may run into him again," Kagome exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Miroku interrupted, becoming frustrated with being left out of the loop. "You know what's going on, don't you? Who stole my pokémon?"

Kagome wet her lips nervously, speaking as Sesshoumaru laid a supportive hand on her shoulder. "The boy you battled is named Naraku. He's also probably the one who stole your pokémon."

"How do you know this?" Miroku asked suspiciously.

"Naraku stole a pokémon from my grandfather nearly a week ago," she answered. "Two days into our journey we met him, and he challenged Sesshoumaru. Like the one you battled, he was cruel to his pokémon, refusing to stop the battle – so Sesshoumaru did. When we realized what he must have done, we reported him to the local police."

"They discovered that he had committed such crimes in other regions in the past," Sesshoumaru continued for her. "It is likely he intends to do the same in Shikon."

"So he won't stop at stealing my pokémon; he'll try to steal other's pokémon as well," Miroku quickly deduced.

"Indeed."

Miroku was silent for a moment, seemingly mulling it all over. "As a gym leader, and a victim of this Naraku, I hold some responsibility over bringing him to justice," he thought aloud. "But I've no way of knowing where he's going."

"Well," Kagome began, but stopped as Sesshoumaru's grip on her shoulder tightened. Looking up at him, she watched him shake his head, and scowled in response. "He should know!" she hissed.

"Know what?" Miroku asked, unable to help hearing her. "What should I know?"

Against Sesshoumaru's wishes, Kagome faced him again and answered. "We believe Naraku will target the other gym leaders. That means we may run into him again – and maybe have the opportunity to stop him."

"Then I'm coming with you," Miroku promptly decided.

"No," Sesshoumaru denied firmly.

"Okay," Kagome agreed at the same time. The couple stared at each other, each frowning.

"He could help us," she asserted.

"We do not need his help – it is the job of the police to catch Naraku, anyway," Sesshoumaru contradicted. "And what will he do about his gym?"

"Hachi can handle it without me. Please," Miroku entreated, drawing their attention. "I'm going to try to track him down whether I travel with you or not – but there is strength in numbers. Besides," he added, tone light and teasing, "my fame can only be to your advantage. There's a strict roadblock surrounding Niwatei right now – I could get you through."

"Niwatei," Kagome murmured. "That's the city of the fourth gym, isn't it?"

"Hn," Sesshoumaru grunted, displeased.

"Then Miroku's right," Kagome announced. "It'd be better if we travel together."

Sesshoumaru acquiesced to Kagome's decision, but the look on his face told both she and Miroku that he was not pleased.

"Right," she sighed, slumping slightly. "I guess we better get going. I don't want to have to spend the night in the caves. There's supposed to be a daycare just outside the mountains – let's try to get there before nightfall."

* * *

><p>When Daycares were first established, there was a lot of debate surrounding their use. Could a person consider themselves a true pokémon trainer if they left their pokémon at a daycare, where they would be raised by someone else? Would a pokémon still recognize their trainer if they did this?<p>

Very slowly the advantages to this system became apparent, and the daycares grew in popularity. Trainers found them useful for training pokémon outside of the main six used on their journeys, and soon Daycares were expanding their business to breeding pokémon. With this change to their daycare system, trainers began using them more and more often, and the prestige of having your pokémon placed in a Daycare to be trained and bred by the professionals was much sought after.

And yet even with the reputation and guarantee of all daycares for trainer satisfaction, the daycare just outside the mountains surrounding Gorintou very rarely had trainers passing through, so you could imagine the owners' surprise when someone banged insistently at their door.

"Oh my!" the daycare lady gasped as she looked outside. On her front steps were three bedraggled trainers, each looking more ragged and tired than the last.

"Goodness me, come in, come in!" she urged them, opening the door wide to admit them. "What on Earth happened to you three? Papa, bring drinks!" she shouted back into the house.

"We came through the Gorintou Caves," the girl answered weakly, her eyes a little too wide. "There were so many Zubats."

The old lady tsked, guiding them out of the dark and into her front room where they all collapsed into separate chairs. "And I suppose none of you had repels with you—goodness! You're Miroku Watanabe!" she exclaimed when she got a good look at her guests.

"No, ma'am, and yes, ma'am," the young breeder answered sheepishly. "I haven't been through in a very long time – I'd forgotten what it could be like in the caves, especially closer to evening."

"And we have never been this far north," the girl added.

"Well, you'll just have to rest up here," she insisted excitedly, smiling kindly. "My name is Shōga, and he is my husband, Myōga," the old lady added, nodding towards the old man walking in with a tray full of snacks and drinks. "We run this Pokémon Daycare."

"Welcome," Myōga greeted, nodding as he put down the tray. "It is an honour to meet you, Mr. Watanabe."

"Now," Shōga breathed as she handed each of the teenagers a drink, "what are your names, dears?" She looked between Miroku's companions curiously.

Kagome took a quick drink of her juice to wet her mouth, humming gratefully as the cool liquid slipped down her throat. "I am Kagome Higurashi," she introduced herself as she bowed slightly in her seat. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"It isn't a problem, dear," Shōga insisted, waving away her thanks. "Even if it were not a Daycare's responsibility to care for trainers and pokémon, I could not in good conscience leave you out to weather the night after coming through those caves."

"And what's your name, son?" Myōga asked their remaining guest, who had so far remained silent.

"…Sesshoumaru," he answered after some hesitation. When it became evident that he wouldn't say more Myōga nodded agreeably, taking a seat across from the trio.

"Well, if none of you mind, I will be heading off to bed," Shōga announced regretfully. "We have another guest sleeping right now, and I'm making them breakfast bright and early tomorrow morning. If you are awake then, you are more than welcome to join us," she invited before leaving the room, pressing a kiss to her husband's bald head as she passed him.

"So," Miroku began with a pleasant smirk, eying their host contemplatively. "You have another guest at the moment?"

"Yes," Myōga confirmed, "a young boy by the name of Kohaku."

"Ah," the famous pokémon competitor muttered, disappointed. A sudden thought struck him, and he stiffened with anxiousness. "Did he say anything else?"

Myōga's eyes glinted knowingly as he chuckled. "Yes. He said he's the younger sibling of the Taijiya gym leader – said he was travelling to Gorintou."

Miroku frowned, his disappointment quickly replaced with concern. "Sango Tanaka is the Taijiya gym leader – her brother is only twelve years old. Too young to be travelling alone."

The old man nodded. "Do not worry on that account. Once we knew who he was, Mama and I called his sister to confirm his tale. Kohaku ran away from home about three days ago."

"He travelled so far alone?" Kagome gasped.

"The roads are rife with danger," Sesshoumaru added thoughtfully, replacing his cup on the coffee table. "That he made it this far, without pokémon, is amazing."

"What do you intend for Kohaku?" Miroku asked. "Surely you do not mean to allow him to leave."

Myoga shook his head, leaning heavily on the arm of his chair. "Miss Sango has told us she will arrive within the week to retrieve him. Mama and I will simply stall him until she can get here."

Kagome lightly scratched her ear, brow furrowing as she thought. "We are going to Taijiya tomorrow. What if we could convince him to come with us?"

Miroku chuckled as Sesshoumaru dropped his head into his upraised hand, lightly massaging his temple agitatedly. "We do not even know why the boy left home," the Taisho reminded her. "What would you say to him?"

"Well I could start with '_why did you run away from home'_," she retorted, cheeks puffing in annoyance.

Gorintou's gym leader shook his head slowly. "You clearly haven't successfully dealt with teenage boys, then. Asking him such would only alienate and upset him."

"It just seems pointless that Miss Sango should have to come all the way here, when we could take Kohaku with us," Kagome frowned.

"…Then speak to him." "What?" Kagome asked, certain she had misheard Sesshoumaru.

Her fiend raised his head to look at her, gaze conflicted but determined. "Tomorrow morning before we leave, speak to him," he repeated calmly. "If the boy decides he wished to return home, he may travel with us."

"Oh my gosh!" she gasped, bouncing forward to wrap her arms giddily around his neck. She felt as he stiffened, but also felt as he relaxed into her embrace. Kagome couldn't be sure, but she could have sworn she felt his fingertips lightly press into her lower back in return. "Thank you so much, Sesshoumaru," Kagome said, pressing her cheek into his shoulder before pulling away. "I promise not to take up too much time."

"I don't think that's what he's worried about," Miroku chuckled, the sound turning into a full-blown laugh when Sesshoumaru's head snapped around so he could glare at him.

* * *

><p>Kagome woke up the next morning as her body temperature slowly rose, moving from comfortably warm to unbearably hot. She sat up with a jolt, panting slightly in an attempt to cool down as she looked around worriedly. "What…?"<p>

"Char char!" Onsen called loudly, staring up at her from his place standing by her bed.

"Onsen," she yawned, stretching. "What is it?"

In answer to her question Charmander toddled about the room, gesturing urgently to the other beds in the room – each of them empty. "Char!"

For a moment Kagome couldn't comprehend the problem. So everyone else was awake first, big deal… "Oh no!" she shouted, eyes popping wide open. Kagome leapt from the bed, scrambling about for a change of clothes. "Everyone else is downstairs already!" she bemoaned. "I wanted to talk to Kohaku before breakfast!"

Onsen began to laugh, the sound coming out raspy, as he held up a shirt for his trainer, which she snatched from him, lips twisted into a pout.

"Only speak if you have something constructive to say. Laughing at me isn't going to help," she chided grumpily, pulling the shirt over her head. Onsen only snickered, the flame of his tail flickering happily as he rooted through her bag for socks while Kagome put on yesterday's skirt. She hopped out of the room and down the stairs, struggling to pull on her socks and walk at the same time.

"C'mon Onsen!" she called for him. He immediately skipped after her, passing her on the stairs and rushing into the kitchen, where Kagome could hear muted conversation.

"Ahh, good morning Kagome," Myōga greeted, turning around from putting dishes away. "You missed the group breakfast, but would you still like me to make something for you?"

"No thank you," she murmured politely, embarrassment making her blush slightly as Sesshoumaru stared knowingly at her, lips pulled into a small smirk. "I was just wondering where Kohaku was. I didn't get to meet him yesterday, and—"

"He is outside, tending to the pokémon with Mama," Myōga chuckled, gesturing towards the back door.

"Right, thanks," Kagome replied, nodding hurriedly as she went out to join Kohaku and Shōga.

Behind the Daycare was a large, free-range area where pokémon were kept, safely fenced in, but remaining close to nature, thanks to the gardens that Shōga and Myōga dutifully tended, and the numerous trees planted around the facility. As Kagome entered the back yard, she could see Kohaku running a hoe through the garden, digging up worms and turning the soil. In his wake a train of Pidgey and Spearow followed, eating up the grubs that his actions revealed. She stepped up towards him slowly, and it was the fluttering of wings as the bird pokémon fled that alerted him to her presence, rather than her quiet cough.

Blinking sweat out of his eyes, Kohaku stopped and looked over at the girl standing beside him.

"Hi," she chirped with false cheer. "You're Kohaku, right?"

He nodded slightly, leaning against the gardening hoe. "Yeah, I am."

"I'm Kagome," she introduced, fingers twiddling together nervously. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute."

"Do you mind if I continue working?"

"Not at all!" Kagome insisted. She watched quietly as he began turning the soil again and slowly followed, smiling as the Pidgey and Spearow returned to their meal behind him.

"I heard you're from Taijiya," she started hesitantly, unsure how to go about getting what she wanted. "My friends and I are leaving to go there some time today."

"Are you pokémon trainers?" he asked, grunting as the hoe encountered a stone. He dug it out, kicking the stone out of the garden.

"Yes," she answered. "Sesshoumaru and I are journeying to get all the gym badges, and Miroku is the gym leader from Gorintou."

Kohaku stiffened slightly, his fingers tightening around the handle before slowly relaxing. "Really," he offered quietly. "Should he be travelling so far from his gym?"

"He's hoping to find someone," she hedged. "I suppose, in dire circumstances, it is okay for a gym leader to leave their city."

Kohaku stared at his feet, frowning slightly.

Kagome leaned forward to stare up at him, gaze soft. "I know you are Kohaku Tanaka, younger brother of Taijiya's gym leader."

His head shot up immediately, eyes turning to look at kitchen windows hard. "What else do you know?" he ground out, lips thinning as they pressed together.

"That you ran away from home," she confessed sadly.

"And what's it to you?" he asked defensively, stepping away slightly. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"I just wanted to know if you'd like to talk about it," the Higurashi girl explained. "Your sister is worried about you."

"Yeah, well, she shouldn't be," Kohaku replied abruptly, turning away. "She's not my dad – she's got other things to worry about."

His words stuck out to Kagome and she pursed her lips in understanding. "Did you argue with your dad?"

Kohaku slanted her a glare of his shoulder. "That's none of your business."

"You're right, it's not," she admitted, giving him some space. "But whatever you argued about, you shouldn't stay mad at him – my dad died when I was really young, and I'd give anything to be able to talk to him now. You really don't know—"

"No, lady," Kohaku interrupted, whirling to face her, face twisted in anger and guilt. "_You_ don't know! You don't know anything about me, so just butt out, okay!" Panting harshly from his outburst, he turned back around and began hoeing more roughly, arms swinging the tool into the ground hard.

Kagome took a few steps back, eyes wide in shock. When she'd come outside, she certainly hadn't been expecting a grand welcome – especially not after Miroku's warnings the night before – but she also hadn't been expecting…_that_. She hesitantly turned around and walked back into the house slowly, nodding mutely when Shōga called out to her in greeting.

She sat down at the kitchen table, barely registering that Sesshoumaru was still there, looking as if he'd been waiting for her return.

"I take it that your conversation did not fair well," Sesshoumaru intoned dryly.

Kagome sighed, shaking her head. "It was horrible. I didn't even get to ask him if he'd like to travel with us back to Taijiya."

"Did you discover why he ran away?"

"Yeah. He had an argument with his dad," she revealed, propping her cheek on an upraised fist. "It must have been pretty bad, because he was really close-lipped and upset by it."

"Hn."

Kagome propped her hands on the table and pushed herself up, standing as slowly as she had sat down. "I guess I'll pack up our things. We'll want to leave soon – it will take us at least three days to walk to Taijiya."

Sesshoumaru watched as she left the room, clearly down-trodden and sad that she'd been unable to successfully speak to Kohaku. Waiting until he heard her footsteps on the floor above him, the Taisho stood and made his way outside.

Kohaku looked up when he heard the back door open and close again, and glared at the white haired boy that stepped out. "If you're going to tell me how I should make up with my dad because he might _die_, too, you can turn around and walk back inside, because I'm not interested."

"In point of fact, my father is alive," Sesshoumaru answered, sliding his hands in his pockets to stand nonchalantly by the edge of the garden.

Kohaku paused, glancing over at the older boy contemplatively. "Then what do you want?"

"Kagome only has good intentions," he told the younger teen, frowning slightly. "She is intent on caring for others, and occasionally this means she will try to help when it is not desired."

"I can handle my problems on my own," Kohaku confirmed petulantly.

Sesshoumaru hummed softly in agreement. "Yes, it is much easier to live in alienation from your family."

"What?" Kohaku choked out.

"I, as you now do, do not speak with my father," he clarified. "I also rarely speak to my stepfamily. But life is better this way," he dryly assured the youth. "I make my own decisions, and while I do not keep in contact with them, I am also free of worry. Life is much easier when you only have to worry about yourself."

Kohaku was quiet for a moment, staring firmly at his shoes. Finally, he looked up, gaze conflicted. "That girl…Kagome…mentioned you were going to Taijiya today."

"Hn. She is packing now – we plan to leave shortly."

"If you don't mind, I think I'd like to go home with you," Kohaku murmured hesitantly.

The corner of Sesshoumaru's lip pulled up in a silent smirk, and he jerked his head towards the house. Wordlessly Kohaku hurried passed him and inside, to pack his few belongings. Sesshoumaru stared after him, head tipping back to stare at the sky.

While he hadn't lied to Kohaku, he also hadn't been truthful. He wasn't happy, or free of worry. He longed to be able to accept his stepfamily, but he couldn't do that until he proved himself to his father – made his father see that just because he had a new son, didn't mean he could make up for their lost time with Inuyasha.

If he was honest, he missed what times he remembered sharing with his father as a child. But it was too late to return to that – he could only move forward.


	9. Chapter 9

It took the group three days to reach Taijiya, as they had predicted. When Kagome learned that Kohaku would be traveling with them she had been ecstatic, and after packing had immediately told Myōga that he wouldn't have to worry about Kohaku anymore, because he would be leaving with them.

After they were done packing it took them a few minutes to round up Miroku – he had been with Shōga discussing their breeding procedures – and had all left shortly thereafter. Because they had nearly been out of the mountains, the terrain they walked on was easily traversed, being flat and barren of large growth. The journey itself, then, wasn't difficult, even with the infrequent trainer battles they were challenged to. It was merely lengthy, and all four of the traveling companions were never happier than when they saw the sign pointing towards Taijiya on the third evening.

_Taijiya – east – 2km_

Their steps sped up after that, until they cleared a gently sloping hill and came to a large lake, upon which was the floating city of Taijiya.

"It's beautiful," Kagome breathed. A wooden walkway led out to the homes of Taijiya's residence, which floated thanks to the high buoyancy of the wood they used. The only building that wasn't floating was the gym, which was located in the center of the lake on a small island of its own. Only one path led to the gym – the path that they would soon be taking. Beside the gym, easily floating was the large mass of the Pokémon Center.

"I hope you said that about my city too," Miroku sniffed, voice serious.

"She did," Sesshoumaru smirked.

"Both cities are beautiful," Kagome insisted cheerfully. "Each has their own attractions."

"Well, if no one minds, I'll be cutting the tour short to return Kohaku to his sister," the gym leader announced, nodding to their guest. "I'll see you both later at the Center."

"All right. It was nice meeting you, Kohaku," Kagome smiled, reaching forward to hug him to her.

The youth pulled away, blushing slightly. "It was nice to meet you too," he mumbled. "I'm just…sorry for how I acted at the Daycare."

"It's okay," she insisted. "I'm just glad you changed your mind!"

"Yeah," he murmured, glancing to the stoic Sesshoumaru, who was staring at the setting sun. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, when you challenge my sister."

"Count on it!" she promised.

Kagome watched as Kohaku and Miroku walked on the floating path up towards the city gym. Once they were out of sight she lightly reached across the space between her and Sesshoumaru, lacing her fingers with his. She smiled when he sent a quick glance towards her, and nodded towards the larger hill on the opposite side of the lake.

"Do you want to go watch the sun set together?" she asked softly, gaze hopeful.

Sesshoumaru's fingers closed tighter around hers and he nodded, actually eager to spend some time alone with his friend. Ever since they'd decided to try dating, they hadn't had a moment alone together. It didn't seem right, so he happily followed as Kagome eagerly tugged him along the path surrounding the lake and up to the crest of the hill, where they sat together facing the setting sun.

Kagome hesitantly leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. When he didn't shove her off she sighed softly and cuddled closer, looping her arm through his. "This is nice," she murmured, eyes reflecting her inner glow and that of the sun.

"Hn."

"You spoke to Kohaku, didn't you," she said rather than asked, tipping her face up to look at him. Sesshoumaru turned his head to look back at her, hand reaching up to lightly push a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I did," he confessed.

"Thank you," she breathed, pushing herself up to lightly kiss his cheek. In front of them the sun disappeared behind the tree line.

Pulling away, Kagome's cheeks reddened. "I know you didn't want him to come with us, but that you spoke to him anyway, for me, means a lot." She quickly stood, lightly rubbing her palms across the front of her skirt. "I guess we'd better head back to the Pokémon Center. Miroku's probably waiting for us."

Without waiting for his response Kagome dashed down the hill, walking determinedly towards the Center. Amused, Sesshoumaru slowly followed her, raising one hand to lightly rub his cheek.

* * *

><p>"Thanks for walking me to the gym," Kohaku said to Gorintou's gym leader as they stood outside the doors.<p>

"It is no trouble," Miroku insisted, smiling. "And I hope you do not mind, but I'd like to see your sister."

"You know my sister?" Kohaku asked, leading the way around the building to where he and his family lived, behind the gym.

"Oh yes, Sango and I met at a Pokémon Competition some years ago. But I have not seen her for a long while," he admitted. As they approached the doors to the Tanaka home, Miroku followed Kohaku's actions as he took off his shoes, replacing them with a pair of slippers.

"Sister has never mentioned that she knew you," Kohaku said, suspicious. He opened the door to the house and was immediately bowled over by said woman, enveloped in her tight embrace.

"Kohaku!" she cried, voice rough with tears. "You came home! Father and I were so worried…"

"I know," Kohaku gasped, holding back an embarrassed laugh at Miroku's telling smile. "I'm sorry I ran away," he whispered, lightly hugging her back.

"It's okay, Kohaku," she insisted, pulling away to smile tearfully at him. "I'm just glad you're back. But the roads are so dangerous, how did you make the journey?"

"You'd have my companions and I to thank for that," Miroku interjected, smiling winningly.

Surprised by the new voice, not having seen anyone else in her rush to get to Kohaku, Sango looked up, her grateful smile falling as she saw who it was standing in front of her.

"You," she hissed. Stepping forward, Sango pushed her brother behind her and into the house, closing the door to keep her and Miroku outside on the porch. "What are you doing here?"

"I helped bring your brother home," Miroku repeated smoothly, leaning against one of the porch beams. "I believe I am entitled to at least a thank you."

"Thank you," she ground out. "Now kindly go away." Not waiting for his response, Sango spun around and went inside, slamming the door behind her.

Miroku chuckled, shrugging away from the supporting beam and slipping back into his shoes. "I guess she still hasn't forgiven me yet," he mused as he walked away. "I wonder…what it would take to make her try."

The next morning over breakfast saw Kagome and Sesshoumaru discussing strategy with Miroku.

"If it isn't obvious by the location, I'll tell you now – the Taijiya gym uses solely water pokémon to challenge trainers," Miroku told them as they ate.

"That rules you out, Onsen," Kagome concluded, leaning over to stroke his head.

Their pokémon sat in the aisle beside them, eating PokéNibs from large silver bowls. Miroku's pokémon had also joined them, and for the first time Kagome and Sesshoumaru saw that Miroku had an Eevee, Ghastly, and Lickitung. Luckily all their pokémon seemed to be getting along and chatting quietly amongst themselves. At Kagome's words, however, Onsen looked up, surprised.

"Char?"

"I can't put you up against a water pokémon except as a last resort," she explained, tickling his neck. She smiled when Onsen laughed. "You'd stand no chance right now against a water type."

He rubbed his head up into her hand acceptingly before going back to his meal. She leaned her head on her upraised fist and watched the pokémon happily, ignoring as Sesshoumaru and Miroku continued talking.

"Sesshoumaru, you could really go either way with your pokémon," Miroku suggested. "Your Pidgey can certainly attack from the air, but Squirtle can also get in really close and follow Sango's pokémon if they dive beneath the surface."

"Hn," the Taisho grunted, frowning thoughtfully. "Neither are chiefly effective, either, in addition to not having a high weakness. It will have to depend on the pokémon and terrain, I expect."

"If my information is correct, Sango uses two pokémon at a time – either a Poliwhirl and Tentacool, or a Shellder and Dewgong," Miroku added, feeding his Eevee a piece of meat when she hopped into his lap.

Kagome's head perked up eagerly at that. "A Dewgong? They're part ice, right?"

"Indeed they are, Lovely Kagome," the older boy confirmed, smiling pleasantly.

"You hear that Onsen?" she gasped, scooping him up into her arms. "You may get to battle yet!"

"Charcharcharcharchar!" he chuckled darkly.

"So which of you will challenge her first?" Miroku asked curiously.

"I went second last time," Kagome reminded them. "How about I go first this time?"

"That is agreeable," Sesshoumaru consented.

"Good!" she chirped. "Because I'm totally pumped! There's no way we can lose, right guys?" Onsen, Hoshi and Moko each cheered in agreement, gathering around her eagerly.

"Then let's do it!" she exclaimed, standing abruptly. Miroku and Sesshoumaru watched in surprised silence as Kagome and her pokémon raced out of the Pokémon Center, nearly bowling over the other trainers in her path.

Sesshoumaru chuckled as he stood, calling his pokémon back to their balls. "I will go to watch her battle Sango. Will you be joining us?"

"Oh, I wouldn't miss it," Miroku purred.

* * *

><p>"Congratulations on getting passed my aides," Sango clapped slowly from her place on the far side of a large pool. "You are Kagome, correct?"<p>

"I am," Kagome acknowledged.

"Thank you for helping bring my brother back home," the gym leader said gratefully. She looked up into the viewing platform the Taijiya gym boasted, where her brother, Sesshoumaru, and Miroku sat.

"I'm just glad I could," Kagome admitted. "I have a little brother too, and as much as we argue, I wouldn't want him to leave."

Sango smiled softly. "Yes – I hope to never feel this way again. But now we must battle," she grinned, pulling out a pokéball. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you helped my brother."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Kagome laughed.

"Go, Shellder!"

"Go, Hoshi!"

"_Bzzt. Shellder, the bivalve clam pokémon. Its hard shell repels any kind of attack. It is vulnerable only when its shell is open."_

Shellder released atop the single large floating platform made of ice in the center of the pool, its shell open so that it might see its opponent. Kagome hesitated, thinking her strategy through. Last time she had gone into a gym battle without thinking it through – she just dove in, hoping to win by pure strength, but that wouldn't always work.

_If Shellder closes its shell, I won't be able to hurt it – so I have to make sure that doesn't happen. It'll have to be a surprise, because if Shellder sees us coming, it'll clam up._

"Hoshi, go under the water!" Kagome shouted. Immediately Hoshi leapt into the pool, disappearing under the waves.

"Ha!" Sango exclaimed. "What do you think you're doing? You can't hope to win in the water!"

"Of course not," Kagome smirked as Shellder dragged itself closer to the edge of the platform. "I just need to get you within my grasp."

Sango continued to appear confused until from out of the water Hoshi appeared, paw reaching up to swipe between Shellder's open shells. His claws dug into Shellder's soft insides, and it released a high pitched shriek before slamming shut. Hoshi landed gracefully on the platform and began scrabbling at Shellder's hard outer shell, but the chance was gone. He had gotten in a good swipe, and likely knocked out at least quarter of Shellder's health, but now that that shell was closed, it would take a stronger pokémon to break through.

"Hoshi, return!" Kagome decided immediately, ready to carry out a new strategy. "Moko, it's your turn now!"

"Switching pokémon won't help you!" Sango shouted. "Shellder won't come out until it's time to strike!"

"Then maybe I'll just have to force the issue," the Higurashi girl replied. "Moko, pry Shellder open!"

Sango stiffened in worry, eyes widening. Before she could tell Shellder to get away, the Mankey was upon it, strong fingers slipping beneath the lip of its shell. Moko's fingers gripped in, and slowly she began prying the two shells apart.

Shellder cried out on the stress to its joint, her soft foot slipping out to weakly slap on Mankey's sides.

Taijiya's gym leader shifted anxiously before abruptly pulling out her pokéball. "Shellder, return! Finish this, Dewgong!"

"_Bzzt. Dewgong, the sea lion pokémon, and evolution of Seel. Stores thermal energy in its body. Unharmed by even intense cold, it swims powerfully in icy waters."_

With a splash Dewgong disappeared beneath the water, tail powering it around the pool.

"Hmm," Kagome muttered, palming her pokédex thoughtfully. _It stores thermal energy, does it? I wonder what would happen if it…over heated?_ She smirked lightly. _Onsen, looks like you _will_ get your chance._

"Moko, return!" she ordered. "Onsen, you can do it!"

Onsen appeared in a flash of light on the platform, eying the water's edge nervously.

"Onsen, stay in the middle of the platform!" Kagome shouted. "Don't make it easy for Dewgong to get to you!"

He immediately moved, racing to the center of the platform as fast as possible.

"That won't help!" Sango jeered, sweeping an arm out forcefully. "You made a mistake sending out a fire-type! Dewgong, take him out!"

"I don't think so," Kagome smirked. She watched as Dewgong flopped onto the platform, making Onsen jerk slightly. He calmed down slightly at his trainers confidence, though, and like her, seemed to waiting for the right moment.

Dewgong wiggled forward towards Onsen, rising up on her front flippers. "Dewgong, use Icy Wind!"

"Goooooooonnnnggg!" Dewgong's powerful jaws opened wide to deliver the attack, and just at that moment, Kagome shouted her own command.

"Onsen, use Ember!"

He leapt into immediate action, a burst of fire shooting straight out into Dewgong's gaping mouth.

"Oonnng!" Dewgong cried out as the intense heat burned its insides.

"Keep it up Onsen!" Kagome ordered firmly.

Her Charmander did as commanded, burst after burst of flame licking at Dewgong's sides and raising her core body temperature passed the point of tolerance.

Unable to stand the sight, Sango quickly recalled her last pokémon. "You did well," she murmured, lightly kissing the ball.

"Well done, Kagome," she congratulated, pocketing the ball. "You have defeated me, and receive in return the Taijiya gym badge."

The two teenagers walked around the sides of the pool, meeting each other on the side. There, Sango handed over her gym badge. It was shaped like a thick ellipsis, a pale tan in colour with dark brown bands around each side. It shined in Kagome's palm, and she immediately took out a protective case, within which she placed the badge, beside the one she had gotten from Miroku in Gorintou.

"Thank you," Kagome said, and firmly shook Sango's hand when it was offered to her.

"Char!" Onsen cried out, drawing Kagome's attention to where he yet stood in the center of the pool.

"Oh gosh, Onsen, I'm sorry!" she apologized, but she couldn't keep the laugh out of her voice. She recalled him immediately.

"Now, I believe there is someone else waiting to battle me?" Sango asked, glancing up to the yet silent audience.

"I am," Sesshoumaru agreed, standing. He ignored as Miroku clapped him on the back, walking down the stairs to the battle area.

Kagome made her way over. "Good luck," she rooted as they passed each other on the stairs. "Not that you'll need it."

"Indeed not," he gloated, smirking. But he reached out, and lightly touched her arm before proceeding out to the pool side.

Kagome was still grinning as she plopped down beside Miroku in the viewing area a moment later.

"Someone's proud of themselves," he commented idly, lips quirking.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah!" she agreed sheepishly. "Did it on the first try, too!"

"Let's see if your boyfriend can do the same, hmm?"

* * *

><p>"So you must be Sesshoumaru," Sango murmured as he took his place opposite her.<p>

"Indeed."

"Kohaku told me you were the one that convinced him to return home," she revealed. "I want to thank you, as well, for what you did."

"I did not do it for you," he intoned, frowning.

"Oh, I've no doubt about that," Sango laughed, cutting a quick glance to where Kagome sat in the stands, watching attentively. "Whatever your reasons, it was Kohaku and I who benefited from it. So thank you."

Sesshoumaru shrugged negligently. "If you insist."

The gym leader's expression became quizzical at his phrasing. "You have to be one of the strangest people I've ever met, Sesshoumaru. I wish you luck in our battle."

"Hn," he smirked, lids lowered to half-mast. "That will not be necessary. Go, Tori."

"Go, Tentacool!"

"_Bzzt. Tentacool, the jellyfish pokémon. Drifts in shallow seas. It can sometimes be found dry and shrivelled up on a beach. Toss it back into the sea to revive it."_

"Hn," Sesshoumaru sneered, watching as Tori flew in lazy circles around the submerged pokémon. This would be easier than he had thought.

"Tori, grab onto Tentacool!" he ordered.

Tori immediately nose-dived towards the floating water pokémon, body arching up to reveal razor-sharp talons at the last moment. Those claws bit deeply into Tentacool's hide, making the pokémon thrash violently in the water. The Pidgey struggled against the other's powerful movements, wings flapping urgently to keep steady and out of the water.

"Fool!" Sango shouted. "Did you think to pull Tentacool out the water? He's at least a hundred pounds heavier than your Pidgey! It could never work."

"We have yet to see the attempt," Sesshoumaru denied. "Tori, use gust!"

"Oh wow!" he heard Miroku shout from the stands. "He intends to use the massive strength of Pidgey's gust attack to lift Tentacool out of the water! I have to say, you are both the most unique trainers I've ever met! Not only using your attacks to their fullest ability, but beyond in new and imaginative ways!"

Sesshoumaru's smirk grew as he watched Tori slowly but surely lift Tentacool from the water. The water pokémon struggled in vain, tentacles thrashing madly as it was finally lifted from the water. With a mighty swing, Tori tossed Tentacool onto the large floating platform, causing it to land with a wet plop on dry land.

"Now, Tori, use tackle," he commanded with finality. Tori reacted immediately, strong breast bones colliding with the pokémon currently struggling for breath. The attack knocked Tentacool further into the platform, nearly dead center.

"Tentacool, use contrict!" Sango ordered quickly. Just as quickly Tentacool's tentacles lifted with great accuracy, wrapping tightly around Tori and bringing their bodies flush together.

Tori cried out pitifully as the tentacles tightened painfully.

"We seem to be at a stalemate," Sesshoumaru noted dryly, indicating the rapid rate at which Tentacool was drying out. At the same time, Tori cried out again, and Sesshoumaru's eyes tightened with worry. Not waiting for Sango's response, he recalled Tori to his ball.

Across the field, Sango did the same, impressed by the way Sesshoumaru had conducted the battle thus far, and how willing he was to concede to a tie to prevent further harm to his pokemon.

"Go, Poliwhirl!"

"Go, Mizu!"

Both pokémon appeared on either side of the platform, lightly stretching their legs before falling into crouched positions.

"_Bzzt. Poliwhirl, the tadpole pokémon, and evolution of Poliwag. Under attack, it uses its belly spiral to put the foe to sleep. It then makes its escape."_

"This will be tougher than the last," he muttered to himself.

"Don't think too long!" Sango laughed, "Else your opponent may get the upper hand! Poliwhirl, use double slap!"

"Mizu, use withraw!" Sesshoumaru swiftly shouted.

In the nick of time Mizu pulled herself into her shell. Poliwhirl approached a mere moment later, heavy hands coming down to slap viciously at her shell. The last and stronger smack knocked Mizu clear off the platform and into the water, where she landed with a splash.

Sesshoumaru waited with bated breath for Mizu to reappear when the water began to glow a bright blue, the light emanating and reflecting off the side of the pool.

"No way!" he heard Kagome shout from the gallery just as Mizu leapt back out of the water, landing with a soft thud on the icy floating platform.

"_Bzzt. Wartortle, the longevity turtle pokémon, and evolution of Squirtle. Often hides in water to stalk unwary prey. For swimming fast, it moves its ears to maintain balance."_

Sesshoumaru smirked, lightly cracking his knuckles. "Now we'll see who has the upper hand. Mizu, use bite!"

Before Sango could recover from her shock Mizu leapt forward, her smaller body impacting with Poliwhirl, who shouted in surprise. His cries increased when Mizu sank her teeth deep into his torso over and over, leaving behind large wounds that bled freely.

Sango growled, fist clenching. "Poliwhirl, use double slap again!" she shouted, arm sweeping out in front of her. "Knock that Wartortle off of you!"

Poliwhirl obeyed instantly, his large gloved fists coming up to pound on Wartortle's shell, the only part of the other pokémon he could reach. Mizu withstood the attack stoically, clinging to Poliwhirl with sharp claws.

Both gym leader and pokémon grew frustrated and not a little desperate. Gripping either side of Mizu's shell, Poliwhirl wrenched the pokémon off his body and threw her away, causing Mizu to land in the pool for a second time.

"Poliwhirl, get ready to use hypnosis!" Sango commanded, and with a grunt the spiral on his belly began to slowly spin.

"Wait for my command, Mizu," Sesshoumaru said firmly. Within the pool he could see as Mizu began to swim in circles beneath the ice platform, waiting for further instructions.

The Taisho redirected his attention back to Poliwhirl, watching contemplatively as the larger pokémon paced the platform, its reflection faithfully following all movements.

He knew Sango would not order Poliwhirl into the water after Mizu – Wartortle's were far more skilled in water than Poliwhirl, thanks to their tails, webbed feet, and feathered ears. No, Poliwhirl had to remain on the platform to stand any chance of success – the platform which was made of highly reflective ice.

"Hn," he smirked, his eyes patiently following as Poliwhirl paced towards the edge of the platform. "Mizu, swim up hard against the platform!"

"What-?" Sango choked on her question as Wartortle's head collided with the underside of the platform. It lifted high into the air, tilting to such an angle that Poliwhirl's wide, stunned eyes could perfectly make out its own reflection, including the spinning flesh of his stomach.

The instant Poliwhirl glanced at his reflection his body stiffened briefly before going limp, collapsing on the slowly stabilizing platform. Directly across from his now sleeping form, Mizu reappeared with a splash, lightly shaking water droplets from her body.

Taijiya's gym leader sighed, smiling ruefully as she recalled Poliwhirl. "Well done, Sesshoumaru. You have beaten me, and earned Taijiya's gym badge."

Sesshoumaru recalled Mizu with a pleased smile, a slight skip in his step as he stepped down from his side of the battle field. "There was never any doubt that I would."


	10. Chapter 10

After Sesshoumaru and Kagome's win, the trio returned to their rooms at the Pokémon Centre to celebrate, leaving Sango and her brother to return to their home behind the gym.

"Kohaku, wait," she started softly, hand reaching out for his. He neatly avoided it, but turned to face her, eyes carefully avoided.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you run away?" She couldn't understand it – she knew that Kohaku and their father where polar opposites, and sometimes disagreed with each other, but that had never stopped them from loving each other. And sure, they had fought before – heck, Sango often butted heads with both her brother and father – but what had happened this time to push Kohaku so far away?

"I'm not sure I know why anymore," Kohaku admitted hesitantly. "I guess part of it was because Dad yelled at my friend."

Sango blinked, startled. She knew all of Kohaku's friends, as did their father – she couldn't imagine their widely accepting and understanding parent yelling at any of them.

"Who was it?" she ventured to ask. "Hojo? Kenta?"

"Ah, no," he admitted, fidgeting slightly. "It was, ah…Kanna." Blushing, he turned away and continued into the house.

_Kanna?_ Sango mouthed, hurrying after him. "Kanna?" she repeated out loud, the question evident.

"Yeah," he confirmed, smiling sheepishly as he leaned against the kitchen counter. "I met her last week."

"How come I'm only hearing about her now?" Sango was happy her brother had found a girl to like, but she wondered that he had kept it a secret.

Kohaku smile became fairly indulgent, and he shook his head. "I'm not the only one that holds secrets, Sango."

"What do you mean?" she gasped.

"Just because I was in the house, doesn't mean I couldn't hear you," he advised her dryly. "You knew Mr. Watanabe from before he brought me home."

Sango swallowed thickly, looking away quickly. "So why did Dad yell at her?"

"Probably because I was showing her the gym pokémon," Kohaku confessed guiltily.

"What?" Sango exclaimed loudly, greatly surprised and appalled. "Kohaku, the gym pokémon are closely guarded secrets! How could you…!"

"I know!" he interrupted briskly, scowling. "I already got that lecture from Dad, and trust me, I won't do it again. I just…Kanna wanted to see," he sighed. "She was so interested, and I thought she was interested in me, but…when I tried to find her after Dad told her to leave, I couldn't – she'd left Taijiya entirely. And I knew that she hadn't been interested in me at all."

"Then why leave?" Sango asked desperately. "You were gone for more than a week – Dad and I were so worried about you."

"I know," Kohaku repeated, and reaching out, tightly clasped his sister's hand. "I'm sorry. I guess realizing that Dad was right about what he said was too much, and then I felt so angry and guilty, I just stayed away."

Sango's lips quivered, and she quickly pulled Kohaku into her arms, hugging him tightly. She exhaled shakily when his arms came up around her in response. "Just don't do something so stupid again," she begged, citing both his risk to the gym, and his later flight.

"I won't," he promised.

When they pulled out of each other's embrace Sango sighed softly, pulling out the pokéballs of the four pokémon she'd used in that day's battles. "I guess I better take them to the Centre for healing before putting them back with the others."

"Why don't you use our machine?" he asked, confused.

Sango blushed slightly, looking away. "It's not working," she muttered.

"Well, let me take them," Kohaku offered, taking them from her. "I'll put them back, too."

"No, that's fine," she said quickly, reaching out to take them back. Kohaku neatly side-stepped her, making his way out of the kitchen.

"I want to," he insisted. "It's the least I could do, after the last week."

"Then why don't we go together?" she asserted, following him back out of the house.

He slanted her a funny look at her persistence, but shrugged and acquiesced, the walk to the Centre silent as each was lost in their own thoughts.

Sango was tense the entire time they were in the Centre, but as their tray came back with fully healed pokémon and it seemed they would leave the building without incident she visibly relaxed.

They were just leaving when a voice called out behind them. "Ahh, Sango! I'm surprised to see you here."

"Miroku," she ground out, turning to face him, false smile painted on her face. "I had to heal my pokémon, as well you know."

"Yes, I watched both battles today," he agreed, smirking as he came to stand before the Tanaka siblings. "But I was under the impression that you, like most of the gym leaders, had your own Healing Machine."

"It's broken."

His eyebrows rose, lips pressing together to hide a smile. "I see. Then this isn't your way of coming to see me."

"Of course not!" she exclaimed angrily. "I have absolutely _nothing_ to say to you!"

"Sango," Kohaku interrupted, exasperated by his sister's antics. "I'm going to take the pokémon back to the gym now."

"Huh?" the gym leader muttered. "Oh yeah. Sure, fine. I'll be back soon; tell Dad to start dinner without me."

"Sure."

"And another thing," Sango continued, rounding on Miroku again, shaking one finger at him. "What are you even _doing_ here? Shouldn't you be tending _your_ gym? Or did I hear wrong when they told me you were taking over for your father?"

"You heard right," he replied, sliding his hands into his pockets. "But there were extenuating circumstances leading to my leaving Gorintou gym."

"Oh?" she asked, honestly curious.

"My pokémon were stolen," he told her softly, stepping closer.

Her eyes widened, the fact that he had moved closer going unnoticed for now. "What?" she breathed, unable to believe it. "Who would do that?"

"A guy named Naraku took them," Miroku revealed. "I'm travelling to find him and take back what is mine."

"But how do you even know you're going in the right direction?"

He hesitated, debating between arousing her worry or telling the truth. "My companions encountered him before, and saw that he had stolen a starter pokémon from Professor Higurashi. When they reported him, they learned that he had similar charges laid against him in other regions. … I believe he seeks to target all the gym leaders, taking their gym badge and their pokémon."

"If that is true, then you must feel that my gym is next," she realized numbly, heart rate accelerating at his silent nod. "Kohaku…" she breathed, hand lifting to cover her mouth anxiously. "Kohaku's alone right now with the pokémon…!"

"I will go with you to check them," Miroku offered, and her worry was obvious by her lack of argument as they raced from the Pokémon Centre.

* * *

><p>"Dad, I'm back!" Kohaku shouted as he entered the sacred room of Taijiya gym. Their father hadn't been home when he and Sango had returned there and talked, and if he wasn't there, Ben Tanaka was most likely to be with the gym pokémon in the hidden room where they were kept within the gym.<p>

When Kohaku walked into that room after returning from the Pokémon Centre, he found everything quiet – he couldn't even hear the telltale muttering that would indicate the eldest Tanaka was strategizing newer and better ways to train the gym pokémon.

"Dad?" he called out. _I guess he's not here._

He walked into the room, stepping carefully around the small pool used to train new pokémon for battling challenging trainers. He almost slipped when he heard a slight crash coming from the back of the room, followed by soft cursing.

"Dad, is that you?"

Hurrying forward, he rounded the corner leading back to the shelves that held the many pokémon used by the gym and froze when he saw his father's crumpled form, a slight cut on his forehead quickly bruising and bleeding.

"DAD!"

Kohaku fell to his knees beside his father, pokéballs falling from his grasp to clatter on the ground as he shook the ex-gym leader's shoulder.

"Tsk tsk, now that's no way to treat pokémon, is it?" a low voice asked.

Whirling, Kohaku stared uncomprehendingly at the young teen smirking at him, red eyes glowing maliciously. "How did you get in here?" he croaked, voice tight with dread.

The other teenager shrugged, leaning nonchalantly against the wall. "I had help," he admitted, jerking his head towards the slight figure hiding in the shadows.

"Kanna," Kohaku breathed as the figure stepped into the light. The girl fidgeted under his stare, eyes begging him to understand, but face and tone remaining carefully neutral.

"I had to, Kohaku."

His face twisted in anger and betrayal. "No one ever has to do anything," he affirmed.

"Oh?" the other boy smirked, stepping forward threateningly. "Let's see what I can't make you do."

* * *

><p>Sango and Miroku burst into the backroom minutes later, only to find that they were too late – the pokéballs were gone, along with Kohaku and the thieves. The backroom itself was a mess, with shelves knocked over in an obvious struggle.<p>

"Dad!" she gasped when she saw his unconscious form. She mirrored her brother's earlier actions, falling to her knees beside the elder Tanaka and lightly lifting his head into her lap. Miroku was quickly on the other side, lightly fanning her father with his hand.

"Dad, wake up," she murmured desperately, her hand hovering over the cut on his forehead. She lightly prodded it, and Ben immediately groaned, eyelids fluttering.

"Ngh…Sango…?" he croaked, eyes squinting open.

Her lips pulled up into a weak smiling, grateful tears gathering and falling slowly from her eyes. "Yeah, Dad, I'm here."

"I was…attacked," Tanaka groaned, struggling to sit up.

Miroku gently urged the older man to lay down again, while Sango grabbed a cloth and dipped it in the training pool, lightly cleaning his forehead of blood. "Who attacked you, Dad?"

"It was that girl, Kanna, and…a boy with horrible red eyes," he answered between deep breaths of air.

Miroku's eyes caught Sango's, and he nodded at the clear question in her gaze. "That sounds like Naraku," he whispered to her.

"Dad, just relax," she whispered in turn to her father. "We're gonna go get Nurse Koharu, and she'll fix you right up. Just don't move while we're gone."

"Okay," Ben sighed, closing his eyes again. Sango blanched, panicking slightly and lightly slapping his cheek.

"No Dad, you can't sleep. You have to keep your eyes open."

"I'll go get the nurse, Sango," Miroku offered. "You stay with you father."

Her watery gaze met his, and she nodded quickly. "Thank you. And hurry."

* * *

><p>After Miroku returned with a nurse, he called the local police, who came to investigate the scene. Thorough looks through the backroom found that not only were the gym pokémon gone, but a gym badge was missing from the stores as well, confirming to Miroku their theory that Naraku's true goal was the pokémon of the Elite Four. Also left behind was a note with an ultimatum – if the police didn't stop their search for him, Naraku would harm Kohaku, whom he had taken with him.<p>

The next day, after everything had calmed down at the Tanaka house behind the gym and the local police had finished taking the statement from Sango's father, Sesshoumaru, Kagome, and Miroku visited the current Taijiya gym leader.

"Naraku will pay for what he has done," Sango swore angrily, throwing herself into one of the love seats in the living room of her home.

"If only I'd spoken to you sooner," Miroku said regretfully, gingerly resting his hand on her shoulder. "We could have been prepared for Naraku's attack."

"It's not your fault, Miroku," Kagome consoled from her seat with Sesshoumaru on the opposite couch. "You couldn't have known when Naraku would attack, or that Miss Sango would believe you."

"Just Sango, please," the older girl corrected. "And you're right," she added, cutting an unreadable look to Miroku. "He couldn't have been sure that I would believe him."

"But you did," Miroku reminded her. "It surprised me, I thought—"

"Not here," she whispered guardedly, noting Kagome and Sesshoumaru's curious gazes. "Not now."

"Alright."

"And now we have five reasons to find Naraku," Kagome said thoughtfully, looking at Sango sympathetically.

"Oh?" Sesshoumaru asked, canting his head towards her.

Kagome ticked them off on her fingers. "He stole Bulbasaur from Grandpa, took Miroku and Sango's pokémon, injured Mr. Tanaka, and kidnapped Kohaku."

"Can we be sure that is what happened?" Sesshoumaru wondered.

"There is no other possibility," Miroku said firmly, making Sango look at him, the surprise in her gaze slowly being replaced by ire as he continued. "Kohaku returned to his family – he would not willingly leave them a second time. He must have been taken too. For what purpose, though, I cannot say."

"It is as the note says, is it not?" Kagome asked uncertainly. "He's being used to keep the police at bay."

"Perhaps," Miroku hedged, frowning.

"Whatever his purpose, I will get my brother back," Sango vowed with gritted teeth, eyes growing hard.

"What?" Kagome gasped.

Their eyes met across from each other, one concerned and the other slowly filling with anger. "I will journey with you to get my brother back."

"Are you sure? What about your father?"

"He would agree with me that getting Kohaku back is our top priority," Taijiya's gym leader said coldly. "And there is nothing I can do for my Dad here. He will be watched carefully at the Centre until he is better, then he will return home and fulfill my duties as gym leader. It would be peace in his mind, to know that I am trying to do something to return my brother to our home."

"Then we will not stop you," Miroku interceded, easily accepting the addition to their group. Sesshoumaru huffed softly.

"If what you say is true, Naraku will surely be heading next to the Raimei Valley," Sango advised. "Most likely he will walk there, to avoid public places where he could be recognized before he has a chance to steal more pokémon."

"Then we should inform the police of that," Sesshoumaru suggested. Kagome nodded in agreement.

"They did say that if we had any leads, we should tell them right away," she added.

Sango frowned, eyes narrowing slightly. _Do they forget so quickly?_ "Let me do that," she requested. "Then we will leave for the Raimei Valley."

"What, tonight?" Kagome gasped. "Surely it isn't smart to leave so late. Better to wait until the morning, and walk by day as far as we can."

The older girl smirked, amusement flickering into her eyes to replace the newfound hatred. "Who said anything about walking?

* * *

><p>Between Taijiya and the Raimei Valley was a large tunnel, dug by the Diglett and Dugtrio of the area. It had been discovered long ago, and was frequently used as an alternate means of travel, considering the large quantity of lakes and rivers that surrounded the water gym of Taijiya.<p>

With advances in technology, there was built machines that could carry people and pokémon from destination to destination, the first and well-known of these being the cruise liner S.S. Anne. Since then numerous others had come and gone, and the most prominent and used form of such transportation in Shikon was the Diglett Train.

Following the routes of old and abandoned tunnels, the Diglett Train ran all over the region, from the northernmost cities in the Raimei Valley, to the southernmost caves of Doukutsu, where ships could be charted to take trainers to the gym islands of Seki and Kazan.

"I can't believe we're going to ride on the Diglett Train!" Kagome enthused as they stood in line to buy their tickets.

As they approached the booths Kagome and Sesshoumaru both handed over their trainer cards, while Miroku and Sango gave their gym leader cards. They were scanned by the booth attendant, a kind of check-in like that at the beginning of Route 1.

"You weren't planning to use it on your journey at all?" Sango asked, surprised. "It would take you months to walk around all of Shikon."

Sesshoumaru shrugged minutely. "While tickets are relatively inexpensive, we are on a budget – food and lodgings are priority over fast transportation."

"Then you're in for a treat," Sango promised them, pocketing the four tickets the cashier handed to her. "There is of course no view to speak of, being in the old tunnels, but the inside of the train is beautiful, and it's amazing how quickly it can take you places."

"How long will it take to get to the Raimei Valley?" Kagome asked.

"A few hours," Sango assured her. "We should be in the Raimei Valley before nightfall."

"That's amazing!" Kagome gushed. "We'll be able to challenge Raimei's gym leader by tomorrow, then!"

"I believe you mean gym leader_s_," Miroku corrected teasingly, smirking.

"I was aware that Raimei's gym required a double battle, but this is done with two gym leaders?" Sesshoumaru asked, surprised.

"Yes. They're brothers in fact," was the reply. "They specialize in electric pokémon."

As they walked through the station, they came upon the entrance to the tunnels. It loomed above them, a large opening in the side of the surrounding hillside. It travelled deep into the earth, accessible by a set of staircases moulded from the ground. The walls were lined with Magnemite and Magneton powered lights.

They walked down the stairs, and the deeper they went the cooler the temperatures got. Kagome lightly wrapped her arms around herself. Noticing her discomfort, Sesshoumaru put his arm around her, drawing her in close.

"Thanks," she murmured, smiling up at him.

When they saw the train, Kagome could barely stifle her gasp. Two lanes were open for trains to dock in – one of them currently occupied. It was huge, nearly filling the tunnel from wall to wall, stretching back with fifteen train cars.

The train was heading down towards Doukutsu, and was currently being filled, people filing onto train cars and finding rooms. The quartet watched as the doors closed and the train bulleted off. Across the platform the train heading north arrived, stopping with a low hiss.

"Right, let's go before we miss it," Sango said briskly, hurrying down the steps as the doors opened.

They followed Taijiya's gym leader, skipping down the stairs and racing across the bridge that rose from the ground in the absence of trains in the lane-way. They entered the train at the end of one of the cars, showing their tickets to the conductor before making their way to one of the empty compartments.

Sango cast Miroku a look as Kagome and Sesshoumaru settled into the seats on one side of the room. "I'm going to go get some food," she informed them.

"I'll come with you," Miroku offered. "Why don't you two release your pokémon? Let them stretch their legs a bit while we're gone."

"Okay," Kagome agreed, though her words were only heard by Sesshoumaru, for Sango and Miroku were already gone.

She frowned slightly, staring at the closed door. "Something isn't right with those two."

"Hn."

Kagome looked Sesshoumaru, surprised. "You could tell?"

Sesshoumaru huffed, rather amused. "Of course I could. I am not dense."

She giggled. "I know, but guys aren't known for noticing such things, right?"

"I suppose," he shrugged. "Perhaps that is because they do not care."

"Do you?"

"Not particularly," he admitted, leaning back into the seat.

His statement made her laugh and relax into her seat, casually throwing her legs over his. "I guess it is their business."

"Hn."

* * *

><p>The minute they were out of earshot Sango pulled Miroku into another compartment, slamming the door closed behind them.<p>

"I just want to make one thing clear," she began harshly, glaring. "Just because I'm travelling with you, doesn't mean I'm ready to forgive you for what you did."

"Sango, please believe me when I say that I regret what I did to you more than anything else in my life," he pleaded. Miroku reached out to touch her arm but she quickly pulled away, stepping further into the room. He smiled sadly. "You used to crave my touch."

"Yeah, well that was before you betrayed me," she growled.

Miroku sighed softly. "Is there nothing I can do to make you forgive me?"

"No," Sango answered firmly. She pushed passed him, reaching for the door, when he spoke again.

"I haven't been with anyone since you broke my heart," he told her.

Sango gasped, outraged by his claim. "Since _I_ broke your heart?" She whirled to face him, features slack with honest awe and his audacity. "_You_ cheated on _me_! I was entirely justified in breaking up with you!"

"That doesn't mean I wasn't as hurt as you by it all," he answered.

She shook her head, lips pressing tightly together. "Maybe you should have thought about that before you kissed that girl."

"She didn't mean anything to me," Miroku said desperately. "I don't even know her name!"

"Then why on _Earth_ would you kiss her?" Tears were lining her eyes, the resurrection of the old pain too much for her to handle. "We were happy! So why…"

"I don't know." His voice was soft, laced with the same pain. "Maybe I was scared of that – maybe I was frightened that I'd have my father's wandering ways, and I wanted to see if I really could be like him, before you cared about me too much."

"I guess your fears were right, then," she sneered.

"No," he denied roughly, grabbing her arm and lightly shaking her, making her gasp. "I already told you – I haven't been with anyone since then. When I kissed that girl? It was awful! She was beautiful, to be sure, but I didn't feel anything for her, and I realized that I would only ever feel anything for you! But you saw me, and wouldn't let me explain…"

"That's not good enough, Miroku," she hissed, snatching her arm from his hand. "Whether or not you realized you couldn't cheat on me, the fact is you did! Instead of just reflecting on your feelings, you chose to commit the very act you hoped you couldn't do!"

"And I wish I hadn't, but Sango…I love you. I love you so much."

His passionate declaration made her hesitate for a moment, but eventually she shook her head, stepping away from him slowly. "I need more than that, Miroku. I need to know that I can trust you, and that can't return over night."

"At least give me the chance to prove that you can," he begged. "I never thought I'd see you again after the Competition and Father's death, but now we're together again. I need to know that you'll at least give me another chance."

"…It will be a few days until Naraku reaches Raimei Valley," she answered softly. "We're stuck with each other until then." Choosing to end the conversation there, Sango left the compartment, heading back to Kagome and Sesshoumaru, leaving behind a desperately hopeful Miroku.


	11. Chapter 11

As predicted, the small group of trainers arrived in the Raimei Valley some two hours later. Following the crowd they walked up out of the tunnel and got their first glance of the valley.

They stood on the very outskirts of the Shikon mountain range, which flowed down into the valley on the western side. On the eastern side were rolling hills which led to Shikon's agricultural lands and the fourth gym of Niwatei. Between both rested the Raimei Valley, the center of Shikon's electrical power and home of the third pokémon gym.

"The first thing we need to do is report in to the police," Kagome said. "Should we all do that together, or…?"

"I'll do it," Sango volunteered for the second time. "You guys should head straight to the Centre and get some beds for us. We'll be here for a few days while we wait for Naraku to show up."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "Should we not let the police deal with him? Naraku is a criminal, and we are not equipped to confront him."

"We have our pokémon," Sango rebutted. "What more do we need?"

"I don't know," Kagome murmured, uncomfortable. "The last time we battled him was difficult – if he's been gathering stronger pokémon, what chance would we stand?"

"If you don't want to stick around, that's fine," the gym leader offered, eyes cold. "But I want to get him back personally for what he's done, and get my brother back."

Kagome hesitated, looking to Sesshoumaru for guidance. Together they could likely defeat Naraku, but the police had advised them not to seek him out. Who should they listen to?

"…We will have to think about it," Sesshoumaru said. "We will challenge the gym here – what comes next will depend on us."

"That's fine," Sango shrugged. "Do what you will – but don't get in my way."

"Sango…" Miroku whispered, slightly appalled.

Her glare cut him off, and then the three of them were silently following her down into the town below them.

* * *

><p>"This Sango sounds very…determined," Mama Higurashi said to Kagome and Sesshoumaru about an hour later.<p>

"She is that," Sesshoumaru agreed blandly.

"And you say she is the second gym leader?"

"Yes, Mama," Kagome affirmed. "But since her brother…left home," she fibbed, "she's been bound and determined to find him, so she left the gym."

"But someone is looking out for it, like your friend Miroku has someone looking after his, right?"

"Her father will, once he is well," Sesshoumaru answered.

"He is sick?"

"Yes," Kagome said, biting her lip. She hated lying to her mother, but she couldn't tell her they were on the trail of a PokéCriminal. Mama would worry about her even more than she already was, and Kagome didn't want to cause that, especially when they weren't sure yet if they would go after him like Sango wanted.

Mama noticed her hesitation, but chose to ignore it. "So you are going to challenge the third gym leader tomorrow?"

"We are!" Kagome confirmed eagerly. "And the gym uses electric type pokémon, so this time _I'll_ have the type advantage." She cast Sesshoumaru an amused glance and was rewarded with his insipid one.

"Speaking of which, I would like to take the time to catch a new pokémon," he intoned. "As you said, I am at a type disadvantage."

"All you had to do was ask," Kagome giggled, making him smirk.

On screen Mama Higurashi smiled indulgently. "I'm glad you two are getting along. I was a little worried about you two going on this adventure – I'm happy to lay my fears to rest."

"No need to worry about us, Mama," Kagome reassured her. "Everything is going absolutely perfectly!"

"Just don't forget to call me more!" the elder Higurashi chided gently. "It's been more than a week since you called me in Musashi."

"I'll try, Mama."

"We may be in the Raimei Valley for a few days," Sesshoumaru said leadingly. "After that, we travel to Niwatei – walking should take us another three days."

"So I shouldn't expect a call for another week at least," she said ruefully.

"We will call before we leave," Sesshoumaru contradicted, prompting surprised smiles from both Higurashi women.

A few minutes later the couple ended their call to the Higurashi's. "Can we really call Mama again before we leave?" Kagome asked excitedly.

"Kagome, if you wish it, you may call every day," Sesshoumaru offered, slightly appalled by the question. "I would not prevent you from doing so."

"I know, but we're so busy, what with training, battling, and travelling."

"Calling home brings you comfort," he said seriously. "Do not feel that you must ask to do so."

"Okay," she promised, smiling faintly. "I'm going to go walk around the valley a bit, and try to catch up with Sango. Are you going to call your stepmom?"

"I will," he confirmed, and found that he wasn't all together against doing so. That alone made him scowl, surprised with himself, but Kagome interpreted it differently.

"Don't look too upset to be talking to her," his companion chided gently. "She only wants to make you happy, so you could try to do the same."

"I will endeavour to not frown," he intoned sarcastically.

"Good, see that you don't!" Kagome giggled. "Well, I'm going to go now."

Leaning over, she pressed a kiss to his cheek and fled, her own a cherry red. Smirking, Sesshoumaru turned back to the calling box, dialing his home number.

"Sesshoumaru," Izayoi greeted a few minutes later.

"Izayoi," he replied. Sesshoumaru immediately noticed that his brother wasn't with her. "Where is Inuyasha?"

She seemed astonished that he would ask. "He is playing outside with Souta."

"Would you call him in?"

She looked even more amazed, if that was possible. "Yes, of course, give me a moment."

While he waited, Sesshoumaru mulled over his stepmother's shock, and realized it was because he made a specific request to speak to Inuyasha. He had never done that before – if anything, he had purposely avoided Inuyasha most of the time. He could only assume that finally letting Kagome into his heart was allowing other things he had purposefully denied himself, such as caring about Inuyasha.

_Neither Sango nor Kagome would do the same to their younger brothers_, he admitted to himself. Sango's absolute dedication to her brother might actually cause her to dislike Sesshoumaru, for his treatment of his own sibling.

_Perhaps I made a mistake, keeping Inuyasha at arm's length for so long…_

"Sesshou!" a happy voice shouted, drawing his attention back to the video phone machine.

"Inuyasha," he replied, and he couldn't help the way Inuyasha's delighted, gap-toothed grin made him slightly smile. "You are looking well."

"Souta and I battled today!"

"Oh?" Sesshoumaru smirked. He was familiar with the boys' tendency to mock battle with imagined pokémon. He wondered what Inuyasha had used this time.

"Yeah! I have a Pidgey, just like you!" Inuyasha declared eagerly, bouncing in his seat beside his mother.

"And what does Souta have?" he asked, honestly curious.

"A Caterpie," Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes.

Sesshoumaru chuckled low in his throat, causing Inuyasha's eyes to widen slightly before grinning as wide as he possibly could.

"Mizu evolved," Sesshoumaru told him suddenly, deciding he wanted his brother to know.

"Really?" Inuyasha gasped, eyes glowing excitedly. "So you have a Wartortle now?"

"I do," he confirmed.

"Wow! Mom, Sesshou has a Wartortle!" the young boy exclaimed to the woman seated beside him.

"So he does," she murmured, casting Sesshoumaru a grateful look. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Tell us more, Sesshou!"

"…Very well."

* * *

><p>"Kagome, what are you doing without your shadow?" a dry voice chuckled. Kagome gasped slightly, spinning to face it and relaxing upon seeing it was Miroku.<p>

"Who, Sesshoumaru?" she asked.

Miroku grinned. "Is there another boy that dutifully sticks to your side like a lap dog?"

Kagome huffed, crossing her arms. "He's not a lap dog. He's my…boyfriend," she openly admitted, blushing but smiling widely.

"I had suspected that was the case," Miroku mock groaned. "A shame, really. Such a beautiful girl wasted on a boy with no emotions."

"You don't know him like I do," she answered firmly, nose tipping up with a haughty sniff. Miroku just chuckled again, gesturing towards the Centre's main doors. She preceded him with a slight flounce.

"Shall we go meet Sango at the police station?" Miroku asked of Kagome as they left the Centre.

"Sure. I just wanted to walk around anyway," she agreed.

As it was in Gorintou, the Pokémon Centre was directly beside the gym, no doubt a way to expedite matters when trainers left it, whether victorious or not. Walking passed, Kagome saw that the gym was actually closed, and without having sent word ahead, it would be unlikely that someone might yet be inside to let them in and look around.

_Guess we'll be going in blind this time,_ she thought. _I doubt we'll find the time to have a look tomorrow during operating hours, what with getting a new pokémon with Sesshoumaru, and other trainers occupying the leaders' time. _

_Though we do know the energy type,_ she cheered internally._ So we can prepare for that. That it will be a double battle is also a bonus – Charmander and Mankey would make a good combo against electricity._

"Sango should be done with the police now, correct?" Miroku asked as they reached the front doors. No one stood outside to greet them, and Kagome shrugged slightly.

"When Sesshoumaru and I had to deal with the police, it took many hours to finish with them – and that was just to file a report! She's probably still inside."

"Yes…yes, no doubt you are correct," he agreed hesitantly. "Then let us go in and wait for her."

"You can do that, I'm going to keep looking around," Kagome demurred. "We may be here for a couple days, if Sesshoumaru decides to wait with Sango for Naraku to show up. So I want to know what there is to do in the valley."

"Then I will see you later," Miroku promised.

As he entered the Station Kagome continued down the street, keeping to the city center.

The Raimei Valley was built outwards in a kind of spiral. In the center of town was the Gym, beside which was the Pokémon Centre to its right, and the Police Station nearby on its left. Working out from this center were businesses – PokéMarts, other small knickknack stores, gaming stores, and Pokémon Clubs. Surrounding this business district was a residential one, filled with houses and small apartment buildings. This filled the majority of the valley. On the northern outskirts, nearby to where the land ended at a beautiful beach was the Raimei Power Plant, which generated the energy used by the entire Shikon region.

Intrigued by the hulking metal building at the edge of town, Kagome made her way over there, curious to see how the energy that she thoughtlessly used every day was created.

She knew of course that electric pokémon were capable of producing those large amounts of energy, and had been made to do so in the past. But while Shikon wasn't a large region, it had a rather large population – surely pokémon alone would not be able to produce those amounts of electrical energy.

She walked into the building hesitantly, wondering if she'd be allowed in. She was cornered almost immediately by men in lab coats who asked her what her business there was. Kagome introduced herself and admitted that she was just curious to know how they made the electricity for the region, and was immediately whisked away by happy scientists, eager to educate her on the topic.

"There's another girl here right now that was also curious to know how we operate here," the scientist beside her said. He'd introduced himself as Sayo. "She's with my boss Seikai right now."

"Maybe we could join them," Kagome suggest, eager to meet and possibly make a new friend.

"That is a splendid idea, Miss Higurashi," Sayo happily agreed. "We must hurry, then – I believe they are looking at the generators already."

They hurried along the hallways, skipping numerous rooms and other scientists as they sought to catch up with the others. They soon reached a set of double doors, and Sayo halted her just before Kagome would have pushed open the doors.

"Here, you'll want to wear these," he instructed, handing her a pair of hair earmuffs. "It gets quite loud in there, so we won't be able to talk. But once you've had a look, I and Seikai can take you both back out and explain how they work."

"Okay," she agreed, placing them over her ears. It was like her sense of hearing was immediately cut off, and her eyes widened fractionally at the effect of the muffs. She really couldn't hear anything!

Sayo opened the doors and the walked in. Kagome was immediately hit by a deep droning noise, and she was thankfully for the headset. She had a good feeling that it would be deafening without them.

She turned when Sayo tapped her shoulder, and glanced over to where he was pointing. Kagome first saw another man in a lab coat, this one much wider than Sayo, and beside him the petite form of another girl. Grinning, she hurried to their side, eager to join them. She stopped, however, when she saw who the other girl was.

"SANGO?" she screeched.

Somehow she must have been heard even through the earmuffs, for both Sango and Seikai turned around, the former surprised and the latter curious.

Sango's expression was one of contrition, but it was soon replaced by a determined scowl. She glared at Kagome a little before turning around again, intently studying the generators. Huffing, Kagome stepped up beside her to also take a look.

There were a total of ten large generators organized into two rows. They were easily each the size of one truck, and Kagome gaped, awed by the shear magnitude of these machines. At the end of each generator was an electric pokémon, all of them either Voltorbs or Electrodes.

The quartet stayed there for a few moments more before Seikai gestured for them all to follow him out. Once they were safely outside the double doors again he took all the headsets, hanging them on the wall.

"Sorry to cut that so short," he began, glancing especially to Kagome who hadn't had much time in there, "but even with the muffs, too much exposure to noise even in the viewing area can cause minor deafness."

"I understand," Kagome smiled.

"If you like, you can follow Sayo and I back to the main entrance where we have displays set up. We can explain how everything works there."

"That sounds good," Sango agreed.

The two girls walked sedately behind the scientists, who talked together quietly. Hoping they would continue to ignore them for a while longer, Kagome twisted her head to glance at Sango.

"What are you doing here?" she asked softly, confused, angry, and a little hurt. "You said you were going to report Naraku to the Police Station. You _insisted_ that you would, so Sesshoumaru and I wouldn't have to."

"I did that already," Sango answered, refusing to look at the other girl.

"That's a lie," Kagome hissed, her anger winning over. "It takes hours to file a police report because they want to be sure that you are correct and telling the truth. It's barely more than one hour since we got here, so tell me the truth! Why didn't you go to the Police Station? Miroku is there waiting for you right now!"

Sango hesitated slightly, biting her lip. "Miroku is waiting for me?"

"Yes," Kagome confirmed firmly. "He thinks you are still there giving your report. So why _aren't_ you doing that?"

Sango scowled, casting the still oblivious scientists a quick glance. "Because I don't want them to know about Naraku."

"You have got to be kidding," Kagome said, disbelief clear in her wide eyes and raised brows. "I thought you _wanted_ to stop Naraku and get your brother back."

"I do," Sango insisted angrily, glaring. "ButNaraku said if we involve the police, he'll hurt Kohaku!"

"Sango, you can't stop him on your own. The police will do everything in their power to make sure Kohaku isn't hurt. You have to tell them."

"I cannot," she refused, pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes. "I was not there for my father or my brother because I was…distracted. I cannot risk my brother's life again."

"You can't blame yourself for this," Kagome tried to assure her. "Naraku would have taken the pokémon whether you were there or not; Kohaku was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"But the point is that I was not there. And this time I will be."

Kagome looked away, unsure of what to say. Sango was very insistent on not telling the police, but…they already knew about Naraku's existence in Shikon. Telling them he might be coming to Raimei would surely aid in their investigation.

"Please do not rat me out," Sango pleaded, catching Kagome's attention again. "Just give me this chance. If I fail…then I promise we will go to the Police."

Kagome bit her lip, uncertain. "…All right," she finally answered, "I'll wait and see." Sango's relaxing shoulders didn't make her feel any better – in fact, she felt like she'd made a mistake. But she understood where Sango was coming from, and surely between the four of them they would be able to stop Naraku.

"You can't tell Miroku or Sesshoumaru either."

"What?" Kagome gasped. That was definitely something she couldn't agree to! "But if they're to help you, they need to know that the Police won't be able to back us up!"

"You can't tell them," Sango repeated firmly.

"You just don't want Miroku to know you lied," Kagome accused.

"That's…that's not true!" she denied, blushing. Kagome snorted.

"Ladies!" Seikai said, drawing their attention. "If you'll join us over here we'll explain how the generators work."

"Excellent," Sango smiled, casting Kagome one last telling glance before joining the two men.

"As you saw, we have a total of ten Voltorb and Electrodes powering the generator. Alone they are not enough to power all of Shikon, though, so what they actually do is power a much larger generator that draws energy from the tides in the Northern Seas." Seikai pointed to the diagram in front of them, showing the schematics for the generator the pokémon powered.

"So the pokémon do not actually power any part of Shikon?" Kagome asked.

"As a matter of fact, they do power one building," Sayo clarified, grinning. "The Gym here is powered specifically by them as well, as per the very first leader's request."

"Ah," Sango murmured, as if that had confirmed something for her. "And is there any risk to the Gym because of that?"

"Well, the pokémon do get switched every few hours on a type of shift," Sayo revealed. "But they are replaced one at a time, so there is no chance that power will be cut off to the Gym or the generator!"

"I see," she murmured. And Kagome thought she did too.

* * *

><p>"You think Naraku is going to target the Power Plant," she stated some time later as they were walking back to the Centre.<p>

"I am confident that is his plan," Sango agreed. "The Raimei Gym is guarded by a very advanced security system. If he wishes to get in without alerting anyone, he will need to cut the power to it."

"And what will you do to stop him?"

"I don't plan to," she answered. Before Kagome could shout at her Sango raised a hand beseechingly and continued. "I don't plan to stop him at the Power Plant. There is too much risk that something vital could be damaged if we battled there. Instead, once he cuts the power – for he surely will – I will enter the Gym and wait for him there."

"You mean _we_ will enter the Gym," Kagome contradicted. "If you want me to keep this secret, you have to let us help you."

"Fine," Sango acquiesced. "But I wish to be the one to battle him."

"All right," Kagome sighed. She didn't wasn't too sure about this plan, but at least Sango was willing to let them help her.

"So what's up with you and Miroku?" she asked after some minutes of silence.

Sango blushed brightly, her eyes widening and gaze snapping to Kagome. "There is nothing up with us!"

"No?" Kagome asked teasingly, grinning. "He seems to wish there was."

The older girl huffed, looking away with a scowl and flaming red cheeks. "Mind your own business, Kagome!" she said, before stomping off.

Kagome shook her head, smiling bemusedly and following after.


	12. Chapter 12

"So what pokémon did you have in mind, Sesshoumaru?"

The duo, Kagome and Sesshoumaru, had woken up bright and early to get started on catching Sesshoumaru another, hardier pokémon to use against Raimei's electric pokémon, leaving Sango and Miroku behind, who had opted to sleep in. Knowing the type had its advantages, and ideally Sesshoumaru would like to catch a ground pokémon, but anything other than water would also do the trick.

"Considering the area we're in, it is unlikely I'll manage to find a ground pokémon," he answered, idly fiddling with an empty pokéball. "The valley is surrounded by lush forest and lakes, so it is my hope to catch a bug or grass pokémon – maybe even a psychic."

"Are there psychic pokémon around Raimei?"

Sesshoumaru nodded. "I was talking to the Nurse yesterday while I waited for you to return. She mentioned that the electronic pulse from the Power Plant attracts them here with its magnetism, though they are very elusive."

On the topic of elusive Sesshoumaru looked uncertain for a moment, but asked the question burning on his mind anyway. "Kagome?"

"Yes, Sesshoumaru?" she replied, smiling over her shoulder at him from up ahead.

"Where did you go for so long yesterday?" After he'd finished his call to his family Sesshoumaru had expected that Kagome would be back shortly after, having only intended to walk around town and then find Sango. But both girls had returned late into the night – even Miroku had eventually left the police station, so Sesshoumaru was curious to know what had happened.

"I walked around town," Kagome demurred, quickly looking back up the path. "When I went to check the police station for Sango, she wasn't done yet, so I walked up to the Power Plant to check it out a bit."

"Miroku mentioned that when he asked at the station, they said Sango wasn't there," Sesshoumaru pressed.

"Well they must have made a mistake," Kagome defended swiftly.

"Ah," Sesshoumaru said, frowning slightly, "yes, that must be it then."

Kagome chanced a glance at Sesshoumaru again and saw only concern and curiosity. Her guilt nearly choked her for having to lie to him, especially since they were finally dating. This was not the way to start a healthy relationship, but she had promised…

A soft rustling to the left roused both trainers' attention, and Kagome quickly got out of Sesshoumaru's way – this was his quest.

They heard the pokémon first, a low, long growl alerting them to its presence ahead of them. Then in a muddy orange blur a Growlithe appeared, lips pulled up to bare sharp teeth. What surprised them was the sight of two tails furling behind him, hairs fluffed up to make him appear larger.

"Bzzt. Growlithe, the fire puppy pokémon. A pokémon with a very loyal and protective nature, it will bark and bite to repel intruders from its space."

"Wow, two tails!" Kagome gasped. "I've never heard of a Growlithe with two tails before."

"Hn. No doubt some kind of deformation…hey!" he shouted as Kagome smartly smacked his arm. Sesshoumaru rubbed it, scowling. "What?"

"Don't say it like that! You make it sound like there's something wrong with it," she answered, glaring. "It's cute!"

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes, freeing a pokéball. "Come, Kagome, you know me better than that. I merely meant it is unusual."

"Are you going to catch it?" she asked, changing the subject and huffing, crossing her arms.

He frowned, glancing at her warily. "Yes. Mizu," he intoned softly, releasing the pokeball's lock.

"Wartortle!" Mizu growled as she appeared, crouching slightly.

"Are you sure you should use Mizu?" Kagome asked worriedly. "Water is super effective against fire – you may seriously hurt Growlithe."

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes, casting her an exasperated glance. "Kagome, what is wrong with you today?"

"What do you mean?" She looked genuinely confused, making Sesshoumaru sigh.

"You've yelled at, questioned, and hit me in less than ten minutes," he told her. "Did something happen yesterday that has upset you?"

Kagome blanched, eyes widening. "No! I already told you what happened yesterday!"

"Then stop acting weird," he ordered calmly, and turning back to the battle at hand. "Mizu, use bite."

The battle was laughably easy. With the skill level Mizu was at, she only had to bite Growlithe once to make him submit to her greater strength, and seizing the opportunity, Sesshoumaru threw a pokéball, catching the dog pokémon in record time. He decided to name it Ah-Un, the twin tails reminding him of a character from a TV show he and Kagome had watched as children.

The walk back to Raimei was made in silence, Kagome lost in her rapidly expanding feelings of guilt, and Sesshoumaru content in believing that whatever was bothering her, she would tell him when she felt ready to.

He had to admit to a dollop of curiosity towards his partner's strange actions – they of course had had arguments before, but Kagome had never doubted his decisions before, and he knew that she only had today because she was hiding something. There could be no other reason for her strange behaviour, but what could it be?

His mind returned to the happenings of the day before. They had arrived late in the evening – too late to go to the gym. Sango had promised to go to the Police Station for them, but when Miroku returned, he claimed that Sango had never gone to the station. He didn't doubt that that was true, but that also didn't necessarily mean Kagome was being false in saying she met Sango at the station later in the night – perhaps Taijiya's gym leader simply didn't go to the station immediately, and Miroku had missed her.

There were numerous possibilities, but nothing changed the fact that something was bothering Kagome, and he had a feeling it was to do with Sango – she was the only person she had been in any lengthy contact with alone the day before, and she had been fine when last in his company.

He wondered how long it would be before Kagome told him what was wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ooOOOShikon00ChampionOOOoo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sesshoumaru was growing frustrated. He had figured Kagome might last a few more minutes before telling him what was wrong – was it not his role as boyfriend to make things right? Sesshoumaru quickly realized he was waiting in vain when they stood outside the Raimei Gym with Miroku and Sango some hours later, and Kagome still hadn't spoken to him.

As they entered the gym a young girl walked up to them, the look on her face rather unwelcoming. "Only two trainers can go in at a time," she told them firmly, little lips pouting.

"Two?" Kagome asked, the first time she had spoken since earlier that day. "We do not complete the gym alone?"

The girl shook her head. "Brother Hiten and Manten battle together, so two trainers may battle together, if they want to."

"We should do that!" Kagome exclaimed, her earlier guilt forgotten in the face of her excitement. "We've never double battled before, it'll be fun!"

Sesshoumaru felt his shoulders relax in the face of her eagerness – this he was familiar with. Allowing a smirk to settle on his lips, he 'hn'd' and that was that. Miroku and Sango made their way to the viewing area with the girl, who introduced herself as Sōten, the gym leaders' younger sister.

"There are no trainers to challenge in the gym," she told them as she left. "You have to use your brain to get through the gym."

"What do you suppose that means?" Kagome asked as they answered the main room. She found her question answered almost immediately – the gym was a maze.

"Hn," Sesshoumaru grunted, rubbing his lips lightly as he contemplated the course. Electric fences lined the room, forming multitudes of squared off sections. Within each one were a number of levers.

Seeing two in their current square, Sesshoumaru walked forward and pulled one towards him. The electric fence to their right shut off, and the Taisho smirked.

"It would seem we have to manoeuvre through the maze by selecting the correct levers to pull," he said, already making his way into the next square. Kagome scurried after him.

"And if we don't pull the right lever?" she asked, eying the next two levers worriedly.

Sesshoumaru lightly smirked, shrugging. "We'll just have to find out."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ooOOOShikon00ChampionOOOoo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It turned out that pulling the wrong lever would cause the fence they'd just walked through the light up again with electric power, release an electric pokémon that promptly attacked them in their now closed square, and cause the levers to reset.

They'd learned that last part the hard way when after pulling the wrong lever they had pulled the other one, which only revealed a new pokémon.

As much as Sōten had said they would need their brains to solve the gym, it really was only a matter of luck. Thankfully it seemed like they were being guided, as there were always only two levers – the right one and the wrong one, so they had no choice of where to go. Still, they pulled the wrong lever ten times, and by the time they reached the end, Kagome was a little agitated.

Sesshoumaru was as unperturbed as ever.

Kagome grumbled as she stomped up the stairs leading to the leader's platform. "I hope future gyms aren't like this one – that was horrible!"

Sesshoumaru chuckled lightly, putting his hand on her hip and pulling her closer. Kagome blushed becomingly, her ire forgotten as Sesshoumaru leaned close to whisper in her ear. "It was not so bad, was it? I for one enjoyed battling through the maze with you."

"Oh," she murmured, eyes hooding slightly in pleasure. "Yes, yes, that was nice."

"Good," he replied just as softly. "I'd worried that you were upset with me."

"Why would I be upset with you?" Kagome asked, confused.

"The way you were acting earlier, I thought…"

The Higurashi girl sighed softly, stopping her ascent and causing Sesshoumaru to pause as well. "I'm not upset with you," she clarified. "I'm upset with myself. But I can't fix it. Not yet."

"Kagome, you can tell me anything," he swore insistently. "Keeping secrets will only make it worse when I find out later."

She hesitated briefly, conflicted. "After the battle," she finally whispered. "I'll tell you after the battle."

"All right," he agreed. "But right after."

She nodded, swallowing thickly. "Then let's get this over with."

Together they walked up the remaining stairs and found themselves on a small platform. At the far end stood two young men. One stood much taller than the other, with long black hair pulled together into a braid, while the other had a long, beak-ish nose, with sparse hear covering his head.

"Welcome, trainers," the taller leader called out as they took positions on their side of the field. "My name is Hiten, the other is my brother, Manten."

"And we are the leaders of Raimei Gym," Manten continued seamlessly.

"Our specialty is electricity—"

"What a shocker," Sesshoumaru whispered into her ear, surprising a giddy giggle from Kagome's lips.

"And together, we're as frightening as thunder and lightning!"

"Are you ready for us?" Hiten concluded, hands placed cockily on his hips.

"Definitely," Kagome and Sesshoumaru said together.

Quick as a flash all four trainers had released their pokémon in flashes of red light.

"Grauww!"

"Char!"

"Joooolt!"

"Eeeeeeeeeeelec!"

"Bzzt. Jolteon, the evolution of Eevee and lightning dog pokémon. It accumulates negative ions in the atmosphere to blast out 10,000-volt lightning bolts."

"Bzzt. Electabuzz, the electric human-like pokémon. Its body constantly discharges electricity. It loves to feed on strong electricity. It occasionally appears around large power plants and so on."

"This is going to be a lot harder than I thought," Kagome breathed, staring wide-eyed as the electric pokémon tensed, prepared to lunge in a moments notice.

Sesshoumaru slanted her an amused glance, old frustrations forgotten with Kagome's promise and in the thrill of battling again. "Do not doubt that we will win this battle, Kagome."

She returned his look, a grin soon replacing her worry. "Cuz together, we can do anything, right?"

"Right," he said confidently, redirecting his gaze to the waiting gym leaders.

Right, she thought back, relief coursing through her body – and a little bit of shame. She'd promised to tell Sesshoumaru what had been bothering her once the battle was over, but she realized now that she should've done it right away – no matter her promise to Sango. Sesshoumaru was her partner in life and on her pokémon journey – there was nothing she couldn't share with him, and nothing they couldn't solve together.

"Onsen, use smoke screen," she commanded firmly.

Immediately Onsen sucked in a deep breath, his little chest expanding to impossible proportions before he released it, a cloud of smoke streaming out from his mouth and covering the battle field. Across from them Kagome could hear as Jolteon and Electabuzz made noises of confusion, trying to see their opponents through the thick fog.  
>"Ah-Uh, use helping hand."<p>

"Onsen, use ember," Kagome ordered in combination, loving the feeling of rightness, battling with Sesshoumaru. It was only compounded by the fact that they were flowing into such an easy, unspoken rhythm together.

Growlithe dashed over to Charmander and made quick work of nudging his nose under Charmander's feet, lifting the lizard pokémon into the air so swiftly that Onsen found himself launched towards the still disoriented electric pokémon across the field. As he soared through the air, Onsen began to take on a tell-tale glow, and Kagome gasped as he evolved, landing amongst their opponents in a burst of powerful flames.

She dimly heard the sounds of Jolteon and Electabuzz crying out, the noise background to her intense focus on the field – watching as the smoke screen slowly cleared.

"Bzzt. Charmeleon, evolution of Charmander and a flame lizard pokémon. If it becomes agitated during battle, it spouts intense flames, incinerating its surroundings and elevating the air temperature to unbearably high levels."

As if on cue a deep, rumbling growl began to emanate from across the field, and Kagome lightly fanned herself as she felt the area heating up. She bit her lip slightly when she finally caught sight of Onsen – his teeth sunk deep in Electabuzz's shoulder.

The electric pokémon shouted loudly in pain, flinching from the suddenness of the attack.

"Onsen," she said around a gulp, unable to pull her eyes from the scene, "use scratch."

As Onsen raised his claws to attack, Jolteon dashed forward, quickly closing the gap between himself and his partner. His sleek muzzle opened wide, the crackle of lighting filling the arena in tandem with Hiten's shout of 'thunder fang!' Just as he seemed ready to return Onsen's attack in kind, Ah-Uh leapt between them, lips pulled back in a snarl.

Jolteon skidded to a halt, the suddenness of Growlithe's appearance causing him to flinch away. Ah-Un followed the lightning dog, snapping deadly fangs at his paws.

Hiten recovered much more quickly than his pokémon, immediately barking a command. "Jolteon, use quick attack!"

The sudden reverse of Jolteon's backward movement surprised Ah-Un. Growlithe suddenly found himself on the retreat, barely dodging Jolteon's swift attack. As Ah-Un turned sideways to hop away, Jolteon's spiked hairs grazed his side, causing Ah-Un to cry out. The electric charge from Jolteon's fur made him shudder with the shock.

Sesshoumaru's jaw clenched slightly, eyes narrowing in concentration. "Ah-Un, use flame wheel."

Immediately Ah-Un's legs spread to brace himself. As Jolteon edged slightly away Ah-Un threw himself forward, flames erupting from his fur. He raced to Jolteon's right, leaving a trail of fire that Jolteon jumped away from. As he circled behind the lightning dog pokémon, Jolteon spun around, keeping uneasy eyes on the wheel of fire quickly forming around him.

As Ah-Un continued on his path, heading towards the start of his fire trail, Jolteon jumped backwards, leaping out of the ring of fire in a blind panic, his fur standing further on end as his electricity rose in response to his fear.

At the exact moment that Jolteon leapt free of the flames, Electabuzz managed to free himself from Onsen's teeth and claws, staggering backwards. The two electric pokémon collided, Jolteon's spiked fur piercing Electabuzz's thin skin.

Electabuzz, already reeling from numerous wounds from Onsen's attacks, staggered sideways from Jolteon and collapsed, remaining unmoving.

"Electabuzz!" Manten wailed.

Hiten seemed ready to snarl another command when Onsen's enraged growl interrupted him. The Charmeleon stalked forward, claws flexing and eyes glowing with a powerful inner fire, clearly upset at having its prey taken away. With a swift forward slash Onsen scratched at the frozen Jolteon.

Kagome watched, wide-eyed in the face of Onsen's newfound ire, and shared a desperate glance with Sesshoumaru.

"Ah-Un, use ember," the young Taisho commanded.

"Onsen, use ember," Kagome echoed, hoping her words would snap him out of his blood lust.

Her words, plus Ah-Un's appearance at his side, did seem to work, as Onsen paused in its attack, glancing at Kagome. Shaking himself, Onsen immediately breathed a tumult of fire in harmony with Ah-Un, the flames licking forward and greedily surrounding the cowering electric pokémon.

With a soft hiss Hiten recalled his Jolteon, the pokémon disappearing in a flash of red with a grateful sigh.

"Congratulations," he told them grudgingly, ignoring his brother's continued weeping beside him. "You two work together well as a team, and have earned the Raigekijin badge."

Kagome and Sesshoumaru both recalled their pokémon, walking forwards to meet Hiten in the center of the field. They accepted the badges that he held out to them.

"Um…" Kagome started hesitantly, glancing up at the large gym leader from under her bangs.

"Just go," Hiten interrupted, waving them off as he spun around to go back to his brother and console him. "You've won – you needn't do more."

"Come, Kagome," Sesshoumaru said, taking her arm in his hand. "We must heal our own pokémon – and I believe you promised to explain what was going on."

"Yes," she agreed, and felt her heart echo her conviction. "Okay, let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ooOOOShikon00ChampionOOOoo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't easy to separate from Sango, especially since she had begun to stare at Kagome suspiciously when it became clear the Higurashi wanted to be alone with Sesshoumaru, but a few quiet words with Miroku solved that problem. He managed to wrangle Sango into going to a nearby restaurant to purchase all of them some food while Kagome and Sesshoumaru returned to Pokémon Centre to heal their pokémon.

Once they had taken care of that concern, Sesshoumaru made quick work of getting the two of them to their shared room with Sango and Miroku, closing the door firmly and turning around to plant his back against it.

"Now," he began, "what is going on? Why was Sango looking at you so strangely?"

"She was looking at me like that because she doesn't want me to tell you what is going on," Kagome blurted out immediately, biting her lip. She hoped Sango wouldn't be too mad at her, but she couldn't keep this a secret from Sesshoumaru anymore.

"And what is going on?" Sesshoumaru prompted again, taking a few steps forward to gently grasp her arms.

Licking her lips, Kagome looked up into his eyes, needing him to see that she was clearly opposed to Sango's plan.

"Sango's setting a trap for Naraku at the Gym. The electricity that powers its security is solely from the pokémon located in the Power Plant. If something were to stop them, there would be no electricity going to the Gym."

"And she believes that is Naraku's plan – to cut off the power to the Gym and thus gain access to it," Sesshoumaru said for her, quickly understanding.

Kagome nodded. "She's planning on being at the Gym before him, and confronting him there."

"What about the police?" the Taisho asked. "Surely since they are aware Naraku's next target is Raimei, they would want to be involved in his arrest."

Kagome chuckled nervously, rubbing her chin. "That's the thing; she never went to the police."

Sesshoumaru frowned, "Excuse me? I don't think I heard you right. She didn't go to the police?"

"No," she confirmed anxiously.

"Then we must rectify this immediately," he insisted, releasing her to grasp the door handle.

"No!" Kagome shouted, leaping forward and grabbing his arm. He scowled but stopped. "You can't. Please, Sesshoumaru, you can't."

"Why not?"

"Because Naraku said not to involve the police – that if we did, he would hurt Kohaku."

"I highly doubt—"

"We can't risk it," she interrupted, her eyes begging him to understand. Her body pressed closer, and Sesshoumaru's eyes widened slightly as she hesitantly tucked her head under his chin, arms moving to wrap around his waist in a hug. "Sango can't risk it."

He stood frozen, swallowing the sudden lump in his throat. "All right," he assured her. "But if something should go wrong…we will go to the police with all that we know."

"Okay," she promised.

They stood like that a few moments, understanding that this was an important step in their relationship. For Kagome, this felt like the first time she'd hugged him. Of course that wasn't the case, but the way she could feel his heart beating in tandem with hers, and the pleasant feeling coursing through her body, she understood that this was different, and the way his arms lifted around her, she knew he understood too.

Pulling back slightly, Kagome tipped her head up to stare at him, the look in her eyes at once anxious and hopefully. Slowly, he leant towards her, his hand coming up to cup her cheek. Just as she was closing her eyes, chin tilting up towards him, a loud knock sounded at their door before Miroku burst into the room, eyes slightly wild and the bag of food dangling in his hands. Kagome and Sesshoumaru immediately leapt apart, faces ablaze, but the Gym leader didn't seem to notice.

"You have to come quickly!" he managed to say, panting loudly. He dropped the food on the floor, but none of them noticed.

"Why? What's happened?" Kagome asked, quickly growing worried in the face of Miroku's obvious panic.

"It's Naraku! He's attacking the gym!"


End file.
